Brian A. Catlos, Professor of Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, and Director of the CU Mediterranean Studies Group, recently published an article titled听"鈥榃estern Culture鈥� and Where it Really Came From" on Hurst听Publishers' website. In this article, he discusses immigration, how "no one 'owns' culture and it is never static," and听how "American and European culture exists as it does today thanks to the influence of outside peoples."
Additionally, Professor Catlos will present a talk this Saturday, September 22, 2018, from 5:15 PM -6:15 PM at the Boulder Public Library听as part of the . Professor Catlos, along with Aun Hasan Ali,听will look into听the magisterial, myth-dispelling history of Islamic Spain, which spans the millennium between the founding of Islam in the 7th century, and the final expulsion of Spain鈥檚 Muslims in the 17th century.听The festival invites attendees to听examine the human experience through the reflections and imaginations of distinguished contemporary authors from across the globe.
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An Excerpt from 鈥榃estern Culture鈥� and Where it Really Came From
This summer President Trump warned European leaders that immigration is 鈥渁 very negative thing鈥� and is in danger of 鈥渃hanging their culture.鈥� It is a statement that resonates with anxieties felt broadly on the political right and which has crystalized in the nativist ethno-national, neo-fascist and racist political movements that have shockingly become mainstream in recent years. Pundits and politicians have been ringing alarm bells for some time regarding the supposed threat to 鈥淲estern culture鈥� and 鈥淛udeo-Christian values鈥� posed by outsiders, especially people who look different or whose cultural priorities are assumed to be at odds with our own. It is Islamic culture that provokes the most fear in this regard, and candidates and talking heads now openly claim that as a religion and culture it is incompatible with western values. These demagogues harken back to a supposedly pure, white European culture of the past, one rooted in nations that trace their landed pedigree back for millennia, uncontaminated by outside influences, and that can be traced back ultimately to the supposedly-European legacy of imperial Rome, Classical Greece and the Hebrew Old Testament. However, their arguments are based on a false, romanticized view of the past, and an absolute misunderstanding of how culture works, what 鈥淲estern culture鈥� is, and what Islam鈥檚 role in its formation has been.
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