Gender and Poetry in Muslim Spain: Mapping the Sexual-Textual Politics of Al-Andalus
AWEJ for translation & Literary Studies Volume, 1 Number 4, October 2017 Pp.52-67
DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol1no4.4
Gender and Poetry in Muslim Spain: Mapping the Sexual-Textual Politics of Al–Andalus
O.Ishaq Tijani
Department of General Undergraduate Curriculum Requirements
University of Dubai, UAE
Imed Nsiri
Department of Arabic and Translation Studies,
American University of Sharjah, UAE
Abstract:
This article revisits the role of women in the Andalusian literature and culture of the period between the 8th through the 15th centuries C.E. Drawing on some Western sexual-textual political models of analysis, the article reexamines the literary methods and devices employed by selected Andalusian women poets to demonstrate their intellectual equality with men. Moreover, by providing a sexual-textual political reading of some of the women’s poems and/or the anecdotes (akhbār) about them, the article demonstrates how these women exerted their social and political agency in a male-dominated society. The article seeks to bolster an argument that the frequent mention of the preponderance of women poets—their names and the anecdotes about them—suggests the existence of a female literary sub-culture in al-Andalus that was more vibrant than has been documented in the male-authored classical Arabic texts.
Keywords: Muslim Spain, poetry, sexual-textual politics, women and gender
Cite as: Tijani, O. I., & Nsiri, I. (2017). Gender and Poetry in Muslim Spain: Mapping the Sexual-Textual Politics of Al-Andalus. Arab World English Journal for Translation & Literary Studies, 1(4). DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awejtls/vol1no4.4