The Moor We Know: Spanish Identity in Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quijote".

The ability of Moorish and Morisco characters in Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quijote to choose their identities has often been ignored. A further evaluation shows that these characters choose their identities just like Don Quijote. Recently, critics have begun to see the novel as an un-doing of the Spanish identity and the displacing of a Euro-centric perspective. To the contrary, the Quijote does not undo European identity; rather it promotes an expanded view of what it means to be European and therefore Spanish or Castizo. Through the authorship of Cide Hamete Benengeli and the actions of other Moorish characters, Cervantes creates a chain of interdependence between Iberian Moors and Christians. Furthermore, the Spain including Moors in the novel presents the possibilities for imagining Spain outside the novel.