Saracens, Moors and Islam: was there a Muslim race in medieval Europe?

Abstract

Against the view that antecedents to modern racism can be found in medieval Europe’s depictions of Moors, Saracens and the prophet Muhammad, this article demonstrates that representations of Muslims from the seventh to the fifteenth centuries were both respectful and resentful, lacking the kind of coherence necessary to show a pattern of racialisation. Rather than reflecting a structural continuity with the Orientalism that emerged in the nineteenth century, the representations that prevailed were the product of the power interests at play in specific historical and geographical contexts. Certainly, there was prejudice, xenophobia and ethnocentrism, sometimes taking forms that superficially resemble modern racisms. But only with the rise of various European powers as empires in the modern era did it become possible to ideologically and structurally racialise Muslims. Thus, ‘race’ should be seen as a modern development that accompanied the rise of capitalism and European colonialism.