The Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) of the University of Navarra starts on January 27, 2020 the monthly seminar series 'Jalia: Arab immigrants in Europe' . They will reflect on the Arab diaspora in Europe from the point of view of speech.

This cycle is part of the project of research MYOUROPE of the ICS whose goal is to achieve a deeper understanding of the discourses of the "new Europeans", people of Arab descent settled in Europe, in the context of the discourses of mass migrations to the European Union.

The first seminar will be position by Ángeles Vicente, an expert in programs of study Arabs and Islam from the University of Zaragoza . The discussion paper, titled 'The Muslim community of Ceuta: Surroundings or immigrants?', will reflect on the case of the Autonomous City where there is a large community of local Arabs whose language is not recognized at the national or European level.

According to Sarali Ginstburg, ICS researcher and manager of MYOUROPE, the case of Ceuta can serve as an example for other autonomous communities due to the increasingly frequent immigration of people of Arab origin to Spain. He also assures that mutual listening between 'new' and 'old' Europeans results core topic. "Getting to know migrants is the first step for their integration and for social cohesion, but their voices are hardly heard", he stressed.

Ángeles Vicente is an expert in Arabic and Islamic programs of study at the University of Zaragoza and author of the book Ceuta: una ciudad entre dos lenguas (Ceuta: a city between two languages). Her research has focused on topics such as the influence of Arabic in the Spanish language and the cases of Arabic dialects in Spain and Europe. She is also a member of the association International Arabic Dialectology Association (AIDA).