72 – Interpretation: reading and taking notes
II
(3) To reformulate these questions, we must inquire to what extent, and
how, social distance configures the nature of cultural interchange.
Any answer to this question must take full account of the
complexities of the social dynamics of cultural interaction, and of the
fact that the relationship between cultural and social processes
changes over time and according to specific contexts. It is also well
to bear in mind Mark Meyerson’s distinction between assimilation
and integration. To the extent that both Jews and Muslims were
expelled, they were never assimilated by Christian society, and hence
it is easy to argue that they were never acculturated either. But if
they were not assimilated, they were indeed integrated; and
integration, a process of normalization of day-to-day
interactions, provides the immediate social context for cultural
change.
(4) Convivencia, under any kind of operational definition, must
encompass the ability of persons of different ethnic groups to step
out of their ethnically bound roles in order to interact on a par with
members of competing groups. We admit, however, that many kinds
of interactions are conditioned by ethnic role playing. Are there roles
not ethnically bound? The ability of medieval peoples to assume
them was limited, or rather interactions were sharply structured by
both ethnic/religious ascription as well as by social class.
Nevertheless, one person can play multiple roles, some of which are
more ethnically bound than others.
(5) Elena Lourie, in her exploration of the differing roles that Jews and
Mudejars (Muslims living under Christian rule) could successfully
play in the medieval kingdom of Aragon, states that those Mudejars
who had military skills were successful in playing the role of soldier
in Christian units, regardless of ethnicity. But Jews she views as
unable to play multiple roles except in very limited, mainly socially
marginal contexts, as when Jewish and Christian criminals conspired
without respect to ethnic identity, or in the specific case she
describes, built on the ethnic connotations of moneylending in order
to set up a clever confidence game.
II
(3) To reformulate these questions, we must inquire to what extent, and
how, social distance configures the nature of cultural interchange.
Any answer to this question must take full account of the
complexities of the social dynamics of cultural interaction, and of the
fact that the relationship between cultural and social processes
changes over time and according to specific contexts. It is also well
to bear in mind Mark Meyerson’s distinction between assimilation
and integration. To the extent that both Jews and Muslims were
expelled, they were never assimilated by Christian society, and hence
it is easy to argue that they were never acculturated either. But if
they were not assimilated, they were indeed integrated; and
integration, a process of normalization of day-to-day
interactions, provides the immediate social context for cultural
change.
(4) Convivencia, under any kind of operational definition, must
encompass the ability of persons of different ethnic groups to step
out of their ethnically bound roles in order to interact on a par with
members of competing groups. We admit, however, that many kinds
of interactions are conditioned by ethnic role playing. Are there roles
not ethnically bound? The ability of medieval peoples to assume
them was limited, or rather interactions were sharply structured by
both ethnic/religious ascription as well as by social class.
Nevertheless, one person can play multiple roles, some of which are
more ethnically bound than others.
(5) Elena Lourie, in her exploration of the differing roles that Jews and
Mudejars (Muslims living under Christian rule) could successfully
play in the medieval kingdom of Aragon, states that those Mudejars
who had military skills were successful in playing the role of soldier
in Christian units, regardless of ethnicity. But Jews she views as
unable to play multiple roles except in very limited, mainly socially
marginal contexts, as when Jewish and Christian criminals conspired
without respect to ethnic identity, or in the specific case she
describes, built on the ethnic connotations of moneylending in order
to set up a clever confidence game.