Iftar in the squares. The public celebration of Ramadan in the medium-sized cities of Spain.

The project "Iftar in the squares" aims to study the public celebration of Ramadan in medium-sized cities in the Spanish state, focusing especially on collective iftars, the ritual that breaks the daily fast during this month sacred to Islam. Based on this case, the project explores how religious plurality is expressed and made visible in public spaces, analysing the social and territorial configurations that make it possible.

The research combines different actions: the collection of empirical data through interviews with key actors (members and leaders of Muslim communities, social organisations, representatives of the local administration) and ethnographic observations in specific urban contexts. These materials are subsequently analysed and interpreted in order to generate both scientific knowledge and social outreach resources.

The project pursues three main objectives:

— to collect and analyse empirical data on religious diversity in Spanish medium-sized cities through the case of public iftars;

— to contribute to theoretical and empirical development in the study of religious diversity in non-metropolitan urban contexts;

— and to disseminate the research results to foster better social and civic understanding of religious plurality and to improve the conditions for interreligious coexistence.

Dissemination activities include both the presentation of results at conferences and in academic publications and the creation of a virtual exhibition with audiovisual material, aimed at the general public and, especially, at the residents of the two cities where the fieldwork has been carried out: Vic and Melilla.

The expected results of the project are:

— academic articles published in specialised journals,

— and a publicly accessible digital exhibition that brings together, in visual and narrative formats, the main findings of the research.

Project Details

Project name	L’iftar a les places. La celebració pública del ramadà a les ciutats mitjanes d’Espanya.
Project number	PC-23-0026.
Coordination from BCURE	Víctor Albert-Blanco (IP), Melania Brito-Clavijo, Ale Govers, Rosa Mrtínez-Cuadros i Laura Cuch.
Start and end date	01/07/2024 – 01/07/2025.
Funding	Call for research projects of the Fundación Pluralismo y Convivencia