Construction of identity in twelfth-century Andalusia
The Case of Travel Writing
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3978994 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elka Weber (New York University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2000 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 1-8 |
| Publication date | 2000-06-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of North African Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1362-9387 • E-ISSN: 1743-9345 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13629380008718394 |
| OpenAlex | W2035158778 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 9 |
Both the form and content of travel writing make it an ideal vehicle for expressing ideas of Self and Other. The traveller edits his information according to his interests, and passes it on in a way that distinguishes him from the various Others he encounters along the trip. In order to explore some of the understandings of Self and Other in the multicultural world of medieval Islam, this article compares the travel narratives of two men who journeyed from al‐Andalus across the Mediterranean at the end of the twelfth century. Ibn Jubayr, the famous Muslim traveller who lived in Granada, made a number of trips but only left a record of one that lasted from 578/1183 to 581/1185 and culminated in a hajj. Benjamin of Tudela was a Jew who lived in territory that shifted from Muslim to Christian control in 1115. He travelled from 1168 to 1171, though the motivation and nature of his trip are unclear. The two travellers were members of different communities. Ibn Jubayr was an insider — his family had been in Spain for 400 years, and he held an important government post. Benjamin of Tudela, a Jew under Muslim and Christian authority, was an outsider twice over. Though he wrote in Hebrew, there is reason to believe that he was a native speaker of Arabic who grew up in a Muslim‐dominated society. In analysing both of these works, and particularly the ways in which the two writers relate to the texts they create, I hope to demonstrate the complexity of defining Self and Other in twelfth‐century Andalusia. While the travellers do construct Others in reference to religious and political standing, these travel accounts show that Self and Other do not stand apart as two distinct poles, but are in fact fluid referents
Aesthetics · Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Hajj · Identity (music · Insider · Islam · Literature · Multiculturalism · Narrative · Pilgrimage · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Halal products and consumer behavior · History · Islamic Finance and Banking Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2022 - 2022 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |