Andalusian Literature

This course examines the origins, development and legacies of Andalusian literature. It traces the literary and intellectual traditions that flourished in Al Andalus since the arrival of Arabs and North Africans to the Iberian Peninsula (92 H 711, to 898 H/1492), the establishment of the Umayyad rule, the emergence of independent Muslim principalities and kingdoms of the Taifas, and through the collapse of the last emirate of Granada in 1492. Emphasis will be on tracing the development of literary genres, cultural trends, and philosophical discourses in Al-Andalus and their reimagined legacies and afterlives in modern Arabic culture.