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Digital AlAndalus

Digital AlAndalus explores how the historical legacy of Al-Andalus—the eight-century Muslim rule over the Iberian Peninsula (711–1492)—is being reshaped and weaponised in today’s digital landscape.

While state-led initiatives in Spain and North Africa promote an idealized vision of Al-Andalus as a model of peaceful coexistence (convivencia), radical groups across the ideological spectrum invoke the Reconquista—the so-called Christian "reconquest" of Spain—to fuel divisive and extremist narratives. 

Bridging research on radicalism, digital media, and historical memory, this project examines how online communities—including trolling networks, far-right movements, and violent Islamist groups—manipulate the past to justify contemporary conflicts. By dissecting digital spaces where history is rewritten, debated, and distorted, DigitalAlAndalus sheds light on the intersection of nostalgia, identity politics, and online radicalization. 

Three key questions guide this study: 

  1. How is the legacy of Al-Andalus being reshaped in digital media? 
  2. How do radical online groups leverage nostalgic narratives of Reconquista to rewrite history for their own agendas? 
  3. What role do state-sponsored narratives of convivencia play in the digital sphere, and how do they intersect with online culture wars? 

Using cutting-edge digital research methods, this project analyses online debates, memes, video games, and propaganda materials to reveal how history is being contested in ways unprecedented in scale and accessibility. DigitalAlAndalus offers fresh insights into how the past is mobilised in contemporary digital spaces, shaping not only historical memory but also online cultural confrontations and digital citizenship in the 21st century. 

Principal Investigator

Dr. Cristina Moreno-Almeida holds the position of Senior Lecturer in Digital Culture and Cultural Studies at Queen Mary University of London and is also a Fellow at the Queen Mary Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. Her research delves into digital cultures and cultural production, exploring the intersection of aesthetics, politics, and media, with a specific focus on North Africa and the Middle East. She has published works on various aspects of popular culture, such as rap music and memes, as well as topics related to resistance, nationalism, and online Far-Right cultures. In her book Rap Beyond Resistance: Staging Power in Contemporary Morocco (Palgrave, 2017), she challenges prevailing narratives about cultural resistance within Hip Hop culture in the Arabic-speaking world. Additionally, her upcoming book, Memes, Monsters, and the Digital Grotesque (Oxford University Press, 2024), presents a novel approach to studying informal politics, monstrous aesthetics, and digital media. 

Currently, Dr. Moreno-Almeida serves as the Principal Investigator of the ERC project ‘Digital Al-Andalus: Radical Perspectives Of and Through Al-Andalus’ (2023-2024). This project explores the amalgamation of historical events, politicized narratives, nostalgia for lost empires, cultural diversity, and violent actions in the realm of digital media. Programme director of the MA Digital Media and Global Cultures at QMUL.  

Postdoctoral Research Assistant - Dr Irene Fernández Ramos

Irene is a scholar in Cultural and Middle Eastern Studies with a PhD from SOAS, University of London. Her research centers on digital nostalgia and its role in shaping collective memory and identity, particularly in relation to Al-Andalus. Irene has extensive experience in data collection, analysis, and project management, having worked with UNESCO and other international organizations. She has presented her findings at global conferences and contributed to several academic and cultural projects, highlighting her proficiency in digital methods and cultural analysis. 

Administrative Coordinator - Melisa Tatiana Slep

Administrative Coordinator - Melisa Tatiana Slep 

Melisa is a PhD candidate in Geography at Queen Mary, University of London. She has a degree in Political Science from Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina) and a Master of Science in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked for over 13 years in project management and administration for the public sector and NGOs, specialising in funding from international organisations such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the European Union. 

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