Power and Rural Communities in Al-Andalus

This volume explores how State power can be defined in Al-Andalus and examines the features of its interaction with Islamic society. Andalusi society is viewed as a changing reality, where the tensions between the various social agents were very strong. The main components - the State and gentry-based peasant communities - experienced a deep transformation in their definition and their relationships, and the process by which these communities fell under the control of the State seems to be a one-way phenomenon. But the detection, examination, and interpretation of this process is still overdue.



With the task of approaching the general transformation of Islamic society from this perspective, this collection focuses on the territorial dimension of the kinship-State dichotomy - if not fully to comprehend the process of assimilation of kinship groups into the State - at least to detect its operation and to track its evolution. By adopting the traditional assumption that territorial configuration patterns are heavily determined by the relative weight of the different authorities operating in a given territory, the papers identify the various agents operating in al-Andalus through their material remains. Especially important is a focus on the territory that lasted longer under Muslim rule: the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada, in which an advanced process of State control can be observed.