Organizer: Erica Buchberger, University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley

Sponsors: American Academy of Research Historians of Medieval Spain (AARHMS) and Texas Medieval Association (TEMA)

It has long been recognized that the "border" between Christian and Muslim Iberia was not a tidy line of us and them with a no-man's land in between; it was a fluid border region of shifting alliances, diverse layers of identity, and code-switching, much like the U.S.-Mexico borderlands.  The myth of a clear-cut division between Christians and Muslims was built through various stages of narrative and artistic construction for specific purposes in specific eras.

Papers are welcome on any aspect of borders and borderlands in medieval Iberia. This may include (but is not limited to) how medieval people experienced these borders, how they aimed to construct or reinforce them, and how modern impressions of medieval Iberia get it wrong (or right).

Papers will be 15-20 minutes in length. Participants will need to pay a registration fee to attend the conference, and may only present one paper (round tables do not count toward this limit). Please email a working title and short abstract to erica.buchberger@utrgv.edu by September 20, 2019.