Paper short abstract:

Throughout the past decades -once democracy is restored in Portugal and Spain-, different projects related to the memorialization of the presence of Jewish communities during the Middle Ages have been consolidating along the border, better known as "La Raya".

Paper long abstract:

Throughout the past decades -once democracy is restored in Portugal and Spain-, different

projects related to the memorialization of the presence of Jewish communities during the

Middle Ages have been consolidating along the border, better known as "La Raya".

Museums, congresses, creation of tourist routes through some of the old Jewish quarters or

interpretation centers are some of the witnesses that prove this growing interest in

patrimonializing the Sephardic vestiges along the Iberian Peninsula. This paper explores, on the one hand, the ways in which the revitalization of this Jewish past is part of a broader process where the territory is linked to

certain historical processes, thus constructing a narrative of its own that allows these places

to acquire a marginal value in the phase of post-Fordist tourism in which we currently find

ourselves. On the other hand, it is intended to reflect on how this touristification on both sides of "La Raya", to build a scenario of apparent diversity where the voices of the protagonists are unearthed from history to be

monopolized by a process of Heritagisation exercised by local agents, thus building a

Jewishness without Jews. In addition, the ways in which the narratives around crypto-Judaism

are constructed in both peninsular States are analyzed, using this motif as an excuse to analyze

from which communicating vessels the coexistence between these Hebrew and Christian

communities is presented, both before and after the expulsion that took place at the

beginning of the Modern Age.