Chapter 7: Reconquista or Regaining Spain from the Internal Other: A Mutually Supporting Relationship and its Impact on Historical Thinking

The past is one of the key elements around which societies build their present and project their future. It remains at the centre of societal debates which drive the development of ideologies and mobilize political sentiment (Kirkwood, 2019; Liu et al., 2014). In recent decades, disputes over approaches to the past have extended far beyond the academic field, reaching broad audiences and encompassing such discrete groups of actors as politicians, social media, historical reenactors, tour guides, and video game designers (Macintyre & Clark, 2013; Nash et al., 2000). Historians therefore find themselves in conversation with an increasingly numerous and diverse range of interlocutors when it comes to debate around the past.