Principal investigator (PI)
Dra. Bárbara Boloix Gallardo
Senior Lecturer of Arab and Islamic Studies in the Department of Semitic Studies (University of Granada)
His main field of study is the history of al-Andalus and the Maghreb, with a particular focus on the history of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (13th-15th centuries). Within this field, he has researched various aspects, including historiography, politics, society, and culture. He has devoted several works and conference contributions to the subject of both Nasrid and Merinid women, including the following books: Las Sultanas de la Alhambra. Las grandes desconocidas del Reino Nazarí de Granada (siglos XIII-XV) (Comares, 2013), El palacio nazarí de Daralhorra (EUG, 2019), and the scientific edition of the collective volume A Companion to Islamic Granada (Brill, 2021), approached from a gender perspective. She is also the author of several scientific articles and book chapters published in prestigious journals and publishing houses, including the following: “Revelando nuevos vínculos familiares de la dinastía nazarí en el siglo XIII: Amat al-‘Azīz y los Banū Ḥudayr de Crevillente” (2011), “Beyond the Ḥaram. Ibn al-Khaṭīb and his Privileged Knowledge of the Royal Nasrid Women” (2014), “El rostro femenino del poder de la mujer nazarí en la política cortesana de la Alhambra (siglos XIII-XV)” (2015), “Presencia e importancia de la mujer en el Musnad de Ibn Marzūq al-Tilimsānī” (2016), “Mujer y poder en el Reino Nazarí de Granada: Fāṭima bint al-Aḥmar, la perla central del collar de la dinastía (siglo XIV)” (2016), “Fés, point de rencontre entre sultanes nasrides et mérinids” (2016) and “Las mujeres del mundo rural nazarí. Vidas cotidianas, espacios y objetos domésticos según la Tuḥfat al-mugtarib de Aḥmad al-Qaštālī (siglo XIII)” (2021).
She has been Principal Investigator for various research projects, including “Interdisciplinary study and research on the Daralhorra Palace (Granada),” awarded by the Patronato de la Alhambra y Generalife (2014-2017), and the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness' Excellence Project on “Nasrid and Merinid women in Islamic societies in the Medieval Mediterranean (13th-15th centuries): power, identity, and social dynamics –NAZAMER-” (2018-2020). She has also participated as a member of the research team in five other National Plan Research Projects and is currently a research member of the project “The Confluence of Religious Cultures in Medieval Historiography: A Digital Edition of the General e Grand Estoria (DEGE)” (The University of British Columbia, Canada).
She has been a member of the Scientific Excellence Unit “Science in the Alhambra” (2028-2022). She is currently a member of the CSIC-UGR Associated R&D&I Unit “Arab and Islamic Cultural Heritage” (of which she was responsible between 2020-2023), and of the University Institute for Research in Women's and Gender Studies at the University of Granada, as well as of the Scientific Excellence Unit of the latter, “Feminist Studies of Women and Gender” (2023-2027). She is currently a member of the Technical Commission of the Board of Trustees of the Alhambra and Generalife, and Deputy Secretary for Cultural and Institutional Cooperation at the Euro-Arab Foundation, where she also heads the Chair of Gender Studies.
Research Team:
Dra. Mª Carmen Caballero Navas
Senior Lecturer of Hebrew and Aramaic Studies in the Department of Semitic Studies (University of Granada)
Carmen Caballero Navas holds a PhD in Hebrew Philology, with extraordinary award, from the University of Granada (2000), where she is currently Associate Professor (tenured) in the Department of Semitic Studies and the University Institute for Research in Women’s and Gender Studies. She did postgraduate studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and, after her PhD, worked for three and a half years at The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL (London). Her doctoral thesis was awarded a prize by the Koret Jewish Studies Publication Program, which led to the publication in 2004 of The Book of Women's Love and the Jewish Medieval Medical Literature on Women. ‘Sefer Ahavat Nashim’ (London: Kegan Paul).
Her research focuses primarily on Hebrew textual production on women's health in the Mediterranean West during the Middle Ages, and on the historical experience of Jewish women, especially as givers and receivers of health care. She has paid particular attention to the ways in which medieval discourses constructed meanings about the female body and sexual difference. She has also addressed other aspects of the production and transmission of medical knowledge among medieval Jews, including the knowledge and practice of magic. Moreover, she has studied the relationships between Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women, as well as Jewish life in southern Europe during this period.
In her work, she has alternated specific studies with the editing and analysis of texts. In addition to her first book, she is authored other monographs, and co-edited (with Esperanza Alfonso) a volume entitled Late Medieval Jewish Identities. Iberia and Beyond (New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). She has also published numerous book chapters and articles in internationally renowned journals, has participated in numerous national and international conferences, and has made numerous research stays in universities, libraries, archives and research centres in the United Kingdom, Israel, France and Germany.
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Dra. Desirée López Bernal
Senior Lecturer of Arab and Islamic Studies in the Department of Semitic Studies (University of Granada)
She develops several lines of research in relation to pre-modern Arabic narrative, focusing on the study of adab prose, humorous prose and the transmission of Arabic narrative to letters and universal folklore, with special emphasis on the stories shared between Arabic, Spanish and other European traditions, from the Middle Ages to the present day. As far as women are concerned, she has previously participated in the research project “La mujer nazarí y meriní en las sociedades islámicas del Mediterráneo medieval (siglos XIII-XV). Poder, identidad y dinámicas sociales (NAZAMER)”, which has resulted in several publications on the presence and representation of the female collective and various aspects of their daily lives in adab works of the Nasrid period, always in connection with their textual precedents of the genre in the Machreq and the Maghreb (“La representación de la vida cotidiana de las mujeres de las clases bajas en los libros de adab: aproximación a partir de un ejemplar de época nazarí (s. VIII/XIV)”, 2021; “Escenas y percepciones del trabajo remunerado femenino en la literatura de adab”, 2022). She has also written a study on the content and functions of the chapters devoted to the social group of women in two adab enciclopedias from Mamluk times (“The Chapters on Women in Two Adab Encyclopaedias from the Mamluk Period: Al-Nuwayrī's Nihāyat al-arab and al-Ibšīhī's Mustaṭraf,” 2021).
Dr. David Porcel Bueno
Assistant Professor in the Department of Philology: Romance, Italian, Galician-Portuguese, and Catalan (University of Granada)
He has a Bachelor’s degree in Hispanic Philology (2009), Romance Philology (2011), and Arabic Philology (2014) from the University of Granada, and a Bachelor’s Degree in Hebrew Philology (2016) from the Complutense University of Madrid. He completed postgraduate studies at the University of Granada (Master’s Degree in Classical Philology) and holds a PhD in Spanish Philology from the University of Valencia (2015). He has been a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Heidelberg, the University of Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), the University of Oxford, and the University of Bologna, and has been a visiting professor at the Universities of Graz, Kassel, Rostock, Montreal, Verona, Padua, and Belgrade, among others. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Romance, Italian, Galician-Portuguese, and Catalan Philology at the University of Granada. His research focuses on the study of Iberian Romance languages and literatures, especially in their medieval and classical phases, and on the relationships they establish with other Iberian languages and literatures (Arabic, Hebrew, and Medieval Latin) and European languages and literatures (Italian, Occitan, and French). She is currently studying the representation of Muslim women in medieval Castilian literature (from an imagological perspective) and how the archetype of the wise Muslim woman is constructed in Moorish literature.
Work Team:
Alba Abdelfatah Martínez
Alba Abdel-Fatah Martínez is a predoctoral researcher within the R&D project De mujeres nazaríes a moriscas (MUNAZAM) at the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Granada, where she is pursuing her PhD as part of the “Languages, Texts and Contexts” program. Since November 2023, she has held a predoctoral fellowship (FPI) linked to the project, focusing her research on the continuities and discontinuities in women’s participation— from the Nasrid to the Morisco period— in the silk culture. Through the analysis of objects, productive practices, and documentary sources, her work aims to reconstruct the knowledge, spaces, and forms of female agency associated with this sphere.
She holds a degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Granada and completed part of her academic training at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fez
(Morocco), through an Erasmus Mundus Al-Idrisi scholarship. She earned the highest honors in her master’s program in “Arab and Hebrew Cultures: al-Andalus and the Contemporary Arab World” with a thesis on the feminine uses of perfume in Nasrid Granada, based on the collection of the Alhambra Museum. Alongside her academic background, she has extensive professional experience as a guide and interpreter at the Alhambra and Generalife monumental complex (2016–2023) and has taught Arabic at institutions such as the University of Granada and the University of Chicago. Her profile is further enriched by training in social and ecosocial initiatives, which reinforces her commitment to a critical and contextualized approach to research on women, heritage, and the cultural history of al-Andalus.
In June 2025, she completed a research stay at the Center for Humanities and Social Sciences (CCHS-ILC, CSIC) in Madrid as part of her doctoral project. Her academic and research career is marked by an interdisciplinary approach—spanning archaeology, art history, and Arabic studies—grounded in a gender perspective. Her main areas of research are: the history of al-Andalus and the Moorish nation, women's history and gender studies in Islamic contexts on the Iberian Peninsula, and Islamic material culture and heritage.
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Dr. Miguel Busto Zapico
Permanent Lecturer, Department of Medieval History and Historiographical Sciences and Techniques (University of Granada)
Doctorate with Special Honours from the University of Oviedo and the Università di Bologna (Italy). He graduated in History from the University of Oviedo in 2010 (with Special Honours) and obtained a Master's Degree in Archaeology from the University of Granada in 2013. Since 2020, he has been a member of the Department of Medieval History and Historiographical Sciences and Techniques at the University of Granada and the PRINMA Research Group. His lines of study focus on Medieval and Modern Archaeology through the analysis of ceramic material, combining the use of Statistics, Archaeometry and Digital Humanities.
Drosia Charisi
PhD student in Human evolution, Physical and Forensic Anthropology (University of Granada)
Her work focuses on the study of human skeletal remains. She is interested in the reconstruction of past lifeways with respect to physiological stress, dietary patterns, and habitual activities, as well as the exploration of biological adaptations of past populations to diverse biocultural environments, through osteological research. She is particularly interested in the assessment of sex differences in skeletal and dental traits as a means of understanding gender-related social divisions in past populations and in various contexts from the Iberian Peninsula and the Mediterranean (from the Late Bronze Age to the Early 20th century), including urban and rural Nasrid Granada. Some of her published work and conference presentations on Medieval Islamic Spain include: “Living and working in al-Andalus: an osteological comparison of rural and urban populations from Islamic Spain (11th-15th c. AD)” (2022), “Sex differences in diet and life conditions in a rural Medieval Islamic population from Spain (La Torrecilla, Granada): an isotopic and osteological approach to gender differentiation in al-Andalus” (2021), “Sexual dimorphism in two mediaeval Muslim populations from Spain” (2016).
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Dra. Esther Fernández Medina
Independent researcher
Esther Fernández Medina is an independent researcher working on Islam and gender issues. She completed her PhD at the CCHS-CSIC (Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences – Spanish National Research Council) in Madrid, and the University of Granada (2014). Her dissertation was carried out within the research group “East in West,” which included Bizantinistic, Hebrew and Arabic studies and made part of the i+d project “Orientalism and Historiography within the Baroque Spanish”. She was also an Associated research fellow at the University of Jaén (2018) collaborating within the i+d project “Arab, Islamic and Christian Societies” (HUM761).
Her research deals with the related topics: magical practices of Moriscos and old Christians in the Early Modern Spanish period, health and medicine from a gendered perspective, the role of women in modern medicine and science, interreligious contacts relating to the developing of gynecological trends in the Early Modern Mediterranean basin.
She has taken part in seminars and congress in Egypt, France, Germany, Portugal and Spain, also she has written a number of chapters and papers for monographs and journals and the latest one, in press: "‘And Behind the Bed Was a Midwife’: Moriscas’ Caregiving from Cradle to Grave in sixteenth century Spain".
She has collaborated in educational projects such as: ‘Dispelling myths on Islam and sexuality’ (online), Seniors’ program of the University de Jaén: ‘The culture of al-Andalus’, and ‘Cooperation project for the sensibilisation of the university community on the crisis of refugees’ of the University of Jaén.
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Zita Laffranchi
Independent researcher
Bioarchaeologist with a strong background in the application of isotopic methods for the reconstruction of diet and mobility in past populations. She did her PhD in Physical Anthropology at the University of Granada-UGR (2015). She worked as postdoctoral researcher in Spain, Switzerland and Italy, at the moment she is affiliated to the Research Group: “CTS-112 Biological Anthropology. Human Paleoecology” of the UGR.
Her research focuses on the exploration of the links between biological, sociocultural, and economical variability among ancient populations. She specifically worked with Late Iron Age/Pre Roman populations from NE Italy and Switzerland thorough the last 10 years. She also collaborates in different research projects investigating dietary, health and activity patterns in Medieval “al Andalus” (South Eastern Spain) and funerary treatment during the Neolithic in Southern Spain. Her role in MUNAZAM is to address and evaluate the intersection between sociocultural, economic and biological (health status, activity and dietary patterns) variables in shaping the lived experience of women in the Nazari Kingdom of Granada.
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Purificación Marinetto Sánchez
Head of the Conservation and Research Section of the Museums of the Alhambra and Generalife Trust
Throughout his professional career, he has specialised in decoration and its evolution in the Hispano-Muslim area, curating and participating in a large number of exhibitions as a result of his research work on this historical and artistic period. His publications include “La vida cotidiana en la Alhambra a través de la cultura material en época de los Tendilla” (2016), “Las piezas y espacios femeninos en la Alhambra” (2021), in collaboration with Antonio Fernández Puertas, “Tipología y usos de la vajilla cerámica en la Alhambra/ Typology and Uses of Ceramic Tableware in the Alhambra” (2020), Figurative Representation in the Muslim World (2020), El ajuar de la Casa nazarí (2015), in collaboration with Amparo López, A la luz de la Seda (2012), Los capiteles del Palacio de los Leones en la Alhambra. Ejemplo para el estudio del capitel hispanomusulmán y su trascendencia arquitectónica (1996), “Apuntes sobre la decoración arquitectónica bajo el periodo emiral y califal” (1987), “La vajilla de los sultanes nazaríes” (2007), Armas y Enseres para la defensa nazarí (2013), in collaboration with Isabel Cambil Campaña, “El calzado en el siglo de oro” (2015), “La alfombra del Generalife y su posible uso en la Granada nazarí” (2004), “La decoración vegetal del taller de marfil de Cuenca” (1987), “Juegos y distracciones de los niños en la ciudad palatina de la Alhambra” (2006), “Metales nazaríes” (2001), “Las hojas de una puerta nazarí” (2001), in collaboration with Antonio Fernández-Puertas and Gloria Aljazairi López, La Carpintería de lo Blanco en ejemplos granadinos (2015).
Dra. Mª Isabel del Val Valdivieso
Honorary Professor Emeritus at the University of Valladolid
Specialist in the History of late medieval Castile, she is a member of the European Research Group “Minorities in medieval and modern Spain (15th to 17th centuries)”/ Groupe Européen de Recherche “Les minorités dans l'Espagne médiévale et moderne (XVème – XVIIème siècles)” of the Centre d'Études Hispaniques d'Amiens (CEHA) https://minoriasgrupoeuropeo.wordpress.com/
She wrote her doctoral thesis on Isabella the Catholic during her time as princess; she has continued to work on this queen and her era, up to the Comunero Revolution. She has focused her research on the 15th century, studying topics such as the Lordship of Vizcaya, urban society, power struggles, women and the role of water in that society. She has also worked on the Castilian Mudejar minority, a topic on which she has participated in research projects, published articles and book chapters, and given lectures and seminars. Among her publications on this subject are: “Moros y moras en el entorno de Isabel la Católica”, in Rica Amrán and Antonio Cortijo Ocaña (eds.), Vivir en minorías en España y América (siglos XV-XVIII), e-Humanista, University of California Santa Barbara, 2017, pp. 86-99, volume 3 of Minorias eBooks from e-Humanista journal of Iberian Studies (www.ehumanista.ucsb.edu); “La presencia sonora de los mudéjares castellanos en el siglo XV” in Rica Amran and Antonio Cortijo Ocaña (eds.), Minorías en la España medieval y moderna: asimilación o/y exclusión (siglos XV al XVII), Santa Barbara, Publications of eHumanista, University of California, Santa Barbara, 2018, pp. 93–105; “Rasgos de la política bajomedieval castellana en relación a su minoría islámica en el contexto hispánico y eclesiástico”, in Olatz Villanueva Zubizarreta (coord.), Mezquitas y cementerios islámicos en la Castilla medieval del Duero, Jaén, University of Jaén, 2021, pp. 15-43.
Dr. Gerard Wiegers
Professor in the Department of History, Department of History of Religions (University of Amsterdam)
He is a professor of religious studies at the University of Amsterdam (Netherlands). His research focuses on the relationships between Islam, Judaism and Christianity in the history of Europe and the Maghreb. He is the author of an extensive bibliography on the literature in Aljamiado and Arabic of the Mudejars and Moriscos from the 15th century to the diaspora of the Moriscos in the 17th century. His lines of research include the religious life of the Mudejars and Moriscos, Arabic and Aljamiado literature, and the Lead Books of Sacromonte in Granada.