ABSTRACT
Introduction Malta, a small island-state in the middle of the Mediterranean, represents an ‘in between’ country. A member of the European Union, its roots are nonetheless embedded in North African soil. Located on the periphery of the European Union, it is geographically nearer to North Africa than to many of the European countries its inhabitants try to emulate. It can be guratively said that the Maltese people are very much like Janus. One face, representing the present and future, looks in awe towards Europe. e other face glares at North Africa, watching its past. Sometimes referred to as the island of ‘Catholic Arabs’, Malta was conquered by the Arabs from Tunisia in 870, and was once fully Muslim (Wettinger, 1986). Arab rule came to an end 220 years later, when Count Roger captured Malta, although Islam remained on the Maltese islands for much longer. According to Guido de Marco (2007), former President of Malta, ‘the island can act as a bridge between the north and south of the region [the Mediterranean]’ (p. 204). More recently, Sultana (2009) pointed out that,
our [Maltese] history shows that what we have done best is to act as a bulwark to keep ‘non-Europeans’ – whoever these are – (and Islam) out of Europe – a vocation that, might I add, we ironically seem to have revived with a vengeance when, following our entry into the EU in 2004, we became a vital outpost in helping the EU secure its borders through collaborating on Frontex operations. (p. 12)
ere seems to be a deliberate attempt by the Maltese to distance, or rather detach, themselves from their Arab heritage. For instance, Dr Ugo Mifsud Bonnici (1989), then Education Minister and later President of the Republic, in his address to the National Congress on the Maltese cultural identity, went to great lengths to explain that Maltese culture is European. He pointed out that Malta is formed by Catholic values just like the rest of Europe. In that sense, our culture denes our identity. A very important aspect of Maltese culture is without doubt religion: ‘Our moral culture gives great value to gentlemanly behaviour as well as to charity … it is a European Culture, in the sense that Europe, like us, was formed on Catholic values’ (p. xiii). Dr Mifsud Bonnici seems to imply that gentlemanly behaviour is
the monopoly of European culture, more so since its roots lie in Catholic values. ere is a tacit insinuation that those who are not European are boorish, since they are not Christians. us, Christianity and Catholicism are depicted as being part and parcel of the Maltese identity irrespective of the fact that many nowadays are not practising Catholics. According to the Sunday Mass Attendance Census of 2005, only 52.6 per cent of Maltese Catholics attend Mass on Sunday (Discern, 2006). Many more people follow other religions.
