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IMC 2016: Sessions

Session 1137: Visions of Community, II: Perceptions of the 'Self' and the 'Other' in Medieval Iberia and Yemen

Wednesday 6 July 2016, 11.15-12.45

Sponsor:Sonderforschungsbereich 42 'Visions of Community', Universität Wien / DOC-Team ‘Ethnonyme im Vergleich’ / Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Organisers:Odile Kommer, Institut für Sozialanthropologie, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Salvatore Liccardo, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Moderator/Chair:Walter Pohl, Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien
Paper 1137-a'Nomen est adimpletio': The Typological Meaning of Ethnic Naming in Post-Visigothic Historical Writing
(Language: English)
Patrick Marschner, Institut für Mittelalterforschung, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Index terms: Biblical Studies, Historiography - Medieval, Language and Literature - Latin
Paper 1137-bDynamics of Inclusion and Exclusion: Linguistic and Religious Conceptions in 10th Century Yemen
(Language: English)
Odile Kommer, Institut für Sozialanthropologie, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien
Index terms: Anthropology, Historiography - Medieval, Islamic and Arabic Studies
Paper 1137-cIn the Background of Narrative Discourse: Stereotyping of Ethnic Groups in Ibn al-Mujawir's Account of a Journey through 13th-Century Arabia
(Language: English)
Andrea Nowak, Institut für Orientalistik, Universität Wien
Index terms: Historiography - Medieval, Islamic and Arabic Studies
Abstract

This session focuses on perceptions of the 'Self' and the 'Other' through the discussion of terms and narratives found in medieval accounts which draw on linguistic and religious conceptions to form categories of distinction and encourage social cohesion. The first paper examines the terminology used in post-Visigothic chronicles to describe the Islamic invaders, whose appearance fulfilled Biblical themes, to show the Iberian Christians as the New Chosen People. The second and third paper, concentrating on the highly diverse population of medieval Yemen, respectively examine terms from 10th century sources which nurture dynamics of social inclusion or exclusion, and anecdotes and side-notes from a 13th-century travel account which ascribe natural dispositions, innate skills, or environmentally-shaped mindsets to ethnic stereotypes.