This project studies the role of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religious agents in the interaction and spreading of ideas of religious identity and otherness in medieval and modern Mediterranean societies; it analyzes the role of these agents in negotiating transcultural relations; and it explores how the gender topic influence in these identity and otherness constructions, as well as in transcultural interactions. To these aims we will study various sources, among which we emphasize Muslim, Christian, and Jewish sermons. We start from the hypothesis that in pre-modern age predication worked as a mean of mass communication; that diffusion of texts in lingua francas (Arabic, Latin, Hebrew, Turkish) facilitated the transmission of ideas; and that preachers stood out in negotiating transcultural phenomena, such as conversion or adaptation of their messages in order to face proselytizing pressure. Therefore, the analysis of works of preachers in which they address gender topics will help clarify how distinctions of gender influence transcultural relations and identity matters. According to the aims of the program, Horizon 2020, "Europe in a changing world", this project is assigned to the study of identities and representations, since it addresses the relation between religion and identity, otherness and gender constructions. Finally, it is a sub-project inside a coordinated project entitled "Fuentes medievales y modernas para el estudio de las relaciones transculturales en el Mediterráneo: redacción y transmisión"; coordinated by Drs. Cándida Ferrero and José Martínez Gazquez, from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. 

Starting date: 01/01/2016

Finishing date: 31/12/2018