RECONQUISTA DAN INKUISISI DALAM PERSPEKTIF KEKUASAAN (STUDI ATAS DE-ISLAMISASI SEJARAH SPANYOL)

Abstract

This research departs from the fundamental question of how the Reconquista and the Inquisition operated not simply as military events or religious institutions, but as a structured project of power to eliminate Islamic identity from the social, cultural, and historical landscape of the Iberian Peninsula. Using a historical-critical approach combined with the analysis of power discourse in the production of historical narratives, this study shows that the post-1492 process of de-Islamization is a political strategy that is carried out systematically through the elimination of Islamic visual symbols, the destruction of Arabic-language intellectual treasures, and the rewriting of history within the framework of a Christian hegemonic narrative. The findings of the study indicate that the Inquisition functioned not only as a religious institution that oversaw the orthodoxy of the faith, but also as an ideological mechanism of the state to reset the boundaries of people's identities, beliefs, and collective memories. Through repressive practices against the Morisco community and institutionalized cultural censorship, the Inquisition reinforced the Reconquista agenda of consolidating the power of the Catholic monarchy and removing Islamic heritage from the public sphere as well as official historiography. Thus, the disappearance of the traces of Islam in Spain cannot be understood as a secondary effect of religious conflict, but rather as the essence of a consciously designed historical and cultural engineering. This conclusion confirms that post-Reconquista Spanish history needs to be read in the framework of power relations that not only construct the past, but also form the foundations of modern national identity