From Timbuktu to Kalamazoo I: Africa and Medieval Iberia

Sponsoring Organization(s)

Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies

Organizer Name

Jessica A. Boon

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Presider Name

Jessica A. Boon

Paper Title 1

Eating Africa and in Denial: Almendra, Azafrán, and Alfonso X's Dreams of Conquest

Presenter 1 Name

Dianne Burke Moneypenny

Presenter 1 Affiliation

Indiana Univ. East

Paper Title 2

"Veiled Men of the Desert": Gender Trouble in the Medieval Islamic West

Presenter 2 Name

Guadalupe González Diéguez

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. de Montréal

Paper Title 3

Fraud, Myth, and the Voice of African Power in Portuguese Abyssinia: The Curious Case of Preste João

Presenter 3 Name

Ross Karlan

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Georgetown Univ.

Paper Title 4

Don't Kill the Messenger: Protecting Knowledge from Timbuktu to Madrid

Presenter 4 Name

Elizabeth Spragins

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Washington and Lee Univ.

Start Date

9-5-2019 1:30 PM

Session Location

Fetzer 1040

Description

Given their geographic proximity, it was inevitable that Iberia would look toward Africa and Africa toward Iberia throughout the medieval period. Drawing from history, literature, and cultural studies, this panel examines Iberian-African relations as a crossroads, where contact between the two was defined not by continental boundaries, but rather by the back and forth of nearly a thousand years of empire building that gave rise not only to intercultural conflict, but also to economic, intellectual, and cultural exchange. In conjunction with “From Timbuktu to Kalamazoo II: Africa and the Medieval Mediterranean” (sponsored by the University of Louisville’s Medieval-Renaissance Faculty Workshop), this session seeks to foster a larger discussion about Africa’s place in medieval Iberia, and highlight Africa’s voice and vantage point in the discipline. Jessica A. Boon