IMC 2010: Sessions

Session 818: Constructing Images of the Other in Occidental and Oriental Travel Writings

Tuesday 13 July 2010, 16.30-18.00

Moderator/Chair:	Arnold Otto, Erzbischöfliches Generalvikariat Erzbistumsarchiv, Paderborn
Paper 818-a	Winged Preachers and Squawked Sermons: An Exposition of the Human Condition and the True Nature of God during a Medieval Sufi Road-Trip (Language: English) Michael N. Nayebi-Oskoui, Carnegie Mellon University, Texas Index terms: Islamic and Arabic Studies, Language and Literature - Other, Sermons and Preaching
Paper 818-b	'Israhêl sie nanten sich': Alexander's Inclosing of the nationes in Rudolf von Ems' Alexander (Language: Deutsch) Kathrin Gollwitzer-Oh, Institut für Deutsche Philologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Index terms: Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Language and Literature - German, Medievalism and Antiquarianism
Paper 818-c	'Münzerama': A Visit to the Iberian Peninsula in 1494-5 and its Implications (Language: English) Judith Berg Sobré, Department of Art & Art History, University of Texas, San Antonio Index terms: Art History - General, Language and Literature - German, Local History
Abstract	Paper -a: In the 12th century, the Persian poet 'Attar wrote his magnum opus, The Conference of the Birds, an allegorical Sufi poem concerning 30 bird pilgrims setting out to find their king. Like Chaucer's pilgrims, the birds commit to entertaining one another through the telling of tales. My paper focuses on the allegorical structure of the birds' journey- the pilgrims, the shifting scenery, and their destination all represent different aspects of the human condition, man's relationship to God, and Sufi philosophy. The concept of the journey itself, as with so many other cultures, is a key allegorical fashioning of Man's unfolding relationship with God in many Sufi writings. Paper -b: Within numerous traditions, Alexander the Great is constituted as the pre-figuration of the conqueror and curious traveller. Moreover, he shaped the world by forcing and supporting migration. This paper seeks to discuss the enclosing of the Jewish nations as depicted by Rudolf von Ems in his medieval novel. Here, the paper will focus on literary methods which enable the combining of different traditions, historical events, and discourses. This combination in turn constructs a new semantic interpretation and meaning of the enclosure of nations. Paper -c: Hieronymus Münzer, a physician, humanist, and cartographer from Nuremberg, made a journey to Spain and Portugal in 1494-5, and wrote about it. It was a key moment, for he saw the transition from a medieval to an early modern society as it was happening. What did he see that survives today? How have some things he observed gone full-cycle?