Aitana Guia is Sessional Assistant Professor in Modern European History. Her research focuses in the social and political history of the modern migrant experience in Europe.
Her forthcoming monograph The Muslim Struggle for Civil Rights in Spain: Promoting Democracy through Migrant Engagement, 1985-2010(Sussex Academic Press, 2014) examines Muslim immigrants’ struggle for civil rights and belonging in Spain after the collapse of Franco’s dictatorship in 1975. It argues that through advocating for religious pluralism, for rights as non-status residents, and for a broader appreciation of history, identity, and culture, immigrants have strengthened liberal democracy in Spain and Europe. By framing Muslim migration history within the context of the third wave of democratization in Southern Europe rather than as a migrant community case study, her research explores the agency of Muslim migrants in developing practices of horizontal citizenship and in deepening democracy. Her next project explores nativism discourse, religious pluralism, and reasonable accommodation in postwar Southern Europe.