Rica AMRAN

Spain/Sefarad: Its Minorities, Its Diasporas

 

Biography

Following Rica Amrán is a Full Professor of Medieval and Modern Spanish History at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne (Amiens) and, since 2005, a Corresponding Member of the Royal Academy of History (Spain).

She completed her B.A. studies in General History and in Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Haifa, followed by a Master's degree in the History Department of the same university, specializing in Medieval History.
Her thesis was co-supervised between the University of Haifa and the Faculty of Ancient and Medieval Spanish History at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, where she later completed her doctoral dissertation. She subsequently pursued postdoctoral studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris and obtained her HDR (Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches) at the Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle.

Her research focuses on the social history of Jews and conversos in Spain from the 14th to the 17th centuries. On this topic, she has published three books: De judíos a judeo-conversos, reflexiones sobre el “ser” converso (Paris, Université de Picardie-Indigo, 2003); Judíos y conversos en el reino de Castilla. Propaganda y mensajes políticos, sociales y religiosos, siglos XIV al XVI (Valladolid, Junta de Castilla y León, 2009), and Judíos y conversos en las crónicas de los reyes de Castilla (siglos XIII al XVI) (Madrid, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos-Université de Picardie-Dykinson, 2014).

She has also published around ninety articles and coordinated about twenty collective volumes on the history and literature of minorities in medieval and modern Spain.

Since 2012, she has been the director of the Centro de Estudios Hispánicos de Amiens (CEHA) at the Université de Picardie. She is also the co-director of the journal eHumanista/Conversos (University of California-Université de Picardie Jules Verne-Lancaster University) http://www.ehumanista.ucsb.edu/conversos and the digital book collection Minorías ebooks (University of California-Université de Picardie) http://www.ehumanista.ucsb.edu/minorias.

Since 2011, she has led the European Research Group consisting of thirteen universities working on the project Las minorías en la España medieval y moderna (siglos XV al XVII). Additionally, since 2019, she has been the director of the French Research Network, Las minorías en los mundos hispánicos (siglos XV al XXI), which includes seven universities (Université de Paris-Creteil, Le Mans Université, Université de Paris, Université Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle, Université de Rouen, and Université de Picardie Jules Verne).

She has taught at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia in Madrid and at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, where she was an Associate Professor, as well as at Lyon 2, Nancy 2, Lille 3, and Paris 3-Sorbonne Nouvelle, where she has been a member of the research team Centre de Recherche sur l’Espagne du Siècle d’Or (C.R.E.S.) since 1998.

She has also been a visiting professor at the University of Alcalá de Henares (one semester), Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Bar-Ilan University (Mahon Salti, one semester), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (three semesters), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), University of Valladolid (two semesters), and University of Basel (one semester).

Since 2012, she has been the director of the Master’s in Research in the Spanish Department at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne.

From 2010 to 2017, she served as Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Cultures at the Université de Picardie.

 

Research project

This project constitutes a critical response to the imperative need to redefine and expand political, social, and economic studies concerning minority groups in medieval and early modern Spain. The Jewish and Muslim communities were not merely enduring components of Iberian history but also essential catalysts in shaping the sociopolitical and cultural evolution of Spanish society during this period. 

Our research will analyze the trajectories of these minority populations following their expulsion or forced conversion, with a particular focus on their resettlement in southern France, Italy, the Netherlands, North Africa, and the Near East. 

The interaction between these minorities and the dominant society has often been underestimated, misrepresented, or subjected to historiographical distortion. The absence of comprehensive scholarly inquiry into this topic, both in France and across Europe, prompted the establishment of a dedicated research division at the Université de Picardie Jules Verne in 2007, under the direction of R. Amran. Since its inception, this research initiative has yielded significant academic outputs, including the publication of five volumes within the Collection du Centre d'Études Hispaniques d'Amiens (Université de Picardie Jules Verne), the launch of the peer-reviewed digital journal eHumanista/Conversos in January 2013 (Université de Picardie Jules Verne – University of California), and the development of the Minorías ebooks digital repository (Université de Picardie Jules Verne – University of California). 

Despite these initial contributions, the study of Iberian minority groups remains in its early stages, requiring further interdisciplinary research to address the complexities of their historical, cultural, and socio-political experiences.

 

Selected Publications

2022. “El Repertorio de Príncipes de Pedro de Escavias: una aproximación a la minoría judía y a sus conversos a mediados del siglo XV”, Jesusalén, Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, pp.34-48

2022. “Aproximación a la historia de los judíos peninsulares durante el periodo medieval y moderno: una reflexión sobre sus principales percepciones ideológicas (siglos XIV al XVI)”, Jewish Literatures in Spanish and Portuguese. Covering texts from Europe, Latin America, Ruth Fine (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and Susanne Zepp (Freie Universität Berlin) eds., De Gruyter, Berlin, 2022, pp.17-38.

2023. “Interferencias literarias en textos históricos: dos casos en textos históricos”, Dossier em Honra à Professora Filomena Barros, in Hamsa (the Centro Interdisciplinar de História Culturas e Sociedades da Universidade de Évora -CIDEHUS), 9 (2023), https://journals.openedition.org/hamsa/4161

2023. “La transición en la problemática conversa: el bautismo como elemento clave en la inserción y en la exclusión religiosa”, La transición en todos sus estados, Volumen colectivo du CEHA, La Collection, Paris, Orbis-Tertius, pp.23-45. 

2023. “Puntos de encuentro y diferencias entre Contra algunos çiçañadores de la nación de los convertidos al pueblo de Israel de Lope de Barrientos y la Católica impugnación de Hernando de Talavera”, Número monográfico: De judíos, conversos y moriscos: Estudios interdisciplinares entre Literatura e Historia (siglos XV-XVIII), ed Fernando Pancorbo Murillo, eHumanista/Conversos,11, pp.1-13

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