75674 - Arabic Language and Literature 3A (LM)

Learning outcomes

 

Through the completion of the course, students acquire an advanced level of proficiency in active and passive uses of Arabic Language and improve their knowledge of the history of Arabic literature. They are able to approach complex Arabic texts in their original Language, and to conduct independent documentary and bibliographic research.

Course contents

 

Images of the world in Medieval Arabic literature (1):

the Rihla of Ibn Battuta.

The course pursues the following main objectives

(A) With regard to Arabic Language :

1. Strengthening students' skills in the use of nominal declensions and verb conjugations (including verbs with "weak" roots'  and other so-called "irregular" roots;


2. Providing students with a set of meaningful practical experiences of the main problems connected to translation of Medieval Arabic texts into contemporary European languages. 


(B) On the historical-literary level:

1. Outlining the formation and the main historical development of geography in the medieval Arab world;

2. Introducing students to the main epistemological and historiographic problems connected to the study of travel literature in medieval Arabic literature;

3. Analyzing the ideological background of representations of the world and its inhabitants by Ibn Battuta and in other great authors of "geographical works" and / or travelogues.

4. Introducing students to some key issues in codicology and the critical edition of texts.

Readings/Bibliography

 

Arabic Language - Suggested Reference Book :

Laura VECCIA VAGLIERI, Grammatica teorica-pratica della Lingua Araba, voll. I-II, Roma, Istituto per l'Oriente.

Parte Storica

Reference Italian Translation of the Rihlat Ibn Battuta:

Tresso, Claudia M., 2008 = Ibn Battuta. I viaggi, Turin: Einaudi, 2008.

Arabic Editions and Main European Translations of the Rihlat Ibn Battuta :

IBN BATTUTA, 1987a. Rihlat Ibn Battuta al-musamma Tuhfat al-nuzzar fi gara'ib al-amsar, ed. by Talal Harb. Betrut: Dar al-kutub al-ʿilmiyya, Beirut, s.d. [1987].

Ibn Battuta, 1987b. Rihlat Ibn Battuta : Tuhfat al-nuzzar fi gara'ib al-amsar wa-'aja'ib al-asfar, ed. by Muhammad 'Abd al-Mun'im al-'Aryan & Mustafa al-Qassas. Beirut: Dar Iḥya’ al-'Ulum.

Defrémery, Charles, and Beniamino Raffaello Sanguinetti, 1853. Voyages d’Ibn Batoutah. Texte arabe, accompagné d’une traduction par C. Defrémery et le D^r. B. R. Sanguinetti, Vol. 1. Paris: Société Asiatique.

Gibb, Hamilton A. R., 1958. The Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭa A.D. 1325-1354. Translated with revisions and notes from the Arabic text edited by C. Defrémery and B. R. Sanguinetti by H.A.R. Gibb. Vol. 1. London: Hakluyt Society.

Lee, Samuel. 1829. The Travels of Ibn Batūta: Translated from the Abridged Arabic Copies Preserved in the Public Library of Cambridge. With Notes, Illustrative of the History, Geography, Botany, Antiquities & c. Occurring Throughout the Work, by Rev. Samuel Lee, London: Oriental Translation Commitee.

Moura, José de Santo Antonio, 1840. Viagens extensas e dilatadas do celebre Arabe Abu-Abdallah, mais conhecido pelo nome de Ben-Batuta. Traduzidas por José de Santo Antonio Moura. Vol. 1. Lisbon: Typografia da Academia.

Studies:

AA. VV., L'etrange et le merveilleux dans l"Islam medieval : Actes du colloque tenu au College de France a Paris, en mars 1974, Paris, Editions J. A., 1978. (Selected excerpts).

BEDIER, Joseph, 1970. La tradition manuscrite du Lai de l’ombre. Réflexions sur l’art d’éditer les anciens textes. Paris: Librairie Honoré Champion. (Selected excerpts).

CECERE, Giuseppe, 2002. ''Le meraviglie dell'Oceano Indiano. Appunti sui caratteri del meraviglioso nel Kitab Aja'ib al-Hind'', Egitto e Vicino Oriente, XXV (2002), pp. 349-364.

CECERE, Giuseppe, 2015. «Between Trade and Religion : Three Florentine Merchants in Mamluk Cairo», in Georg Christ, Franz-Julius Morche, Roberto Zaugg, Wolfgang Kaiser, Stefan Burkhardt, Alexander D. Beihammer (eds.), Union in Separation. Diasporic Groups and Identities in the Eastern Mediterranean (1100-1800), Viella, Roma, 2015, p. 229-250

CECERE, Giuseppe, forthcoming. “Tarfiq versus Tazyiq : On a Rare Sufi Term in Ibn Battuta and Jewish-Muslim Interactions in Medieval Egypt.” QULSO (Quaderni di Linguistica e Studi Orientali).

CUOQ, Joseph, 1975. Recueil des sources arabes concernant l'Afrique occidentale du VIIe au XVIe siècle (Bilad al-Sudan). Paris: Editions du CNRS, 1975. (Selected excerpts).

DUNN, Ross E., 1986. The adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler of the 14^th Century. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Selected excerpts).

Jacques LE GOFF, Il meraviglioso e il quotidiano nell'Occidente medievale, tr. it., Laterza, Bari, 2007 (5a ed.). (Selected excerpts).

MIQUEL, André, 1975-1988. La geographie humaine du monde musulman jusqu'au milieu du 11e siecle. Geographie et geographie humaine dans la litterature arabe des origines a 1050, Paris - La Haye, Mouton & Co., 1975 -1988, 4 vol. (Selected excerpts).

MIQUEL, André, 2013. “Preface” à Jean-Claude GARCIN, Pour une lecture historique des Mille et Une Nuits : Essai sur l'edition de Bulaq (1835), Arles, Sindbad-Actes Sud, 2013.

TIMPANARO, Sebastiano and Glenn W. Most, 2005. The Genesis of Lachmann’s method. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. (Selected excerpts).

TODOROV, Tzvetan, 1984. La conquista dell'America. Il problema dell'altro, tr. it., Einaudi, Torino, 1984 (Selected excerpts).

 

Suggested Lexicographic Tools :

Dozy, Rheinart, 1845. Dictionnaire détaillé des noms des vêtements chez les Arabes. Amsterdam: Jean Müller

Dozy, Rheinart, 1881. Supplément aux dictionnaires arabes. Leiden: Brill.

Teaching methods

 

The course combines linguistic study and historical-literary study: acquisition and consolidation of language skills is based on direct approach to literary texts and historical documents specially relevant to the historical and literary themes of the course.

The course consists mainly of lectures. However, part of the will be specially devoted to foster the students' direct involvement. In particular, individual or groups of students will be encouraged to organize oral presentations in classroom, concerning specific historical and ideological issues and / or translation of texts previously agreed upon with the teacher

Assessment methods

 

Introductory notes.

The final exam consists of two tests: a written one, with use of the dictionary, and an oral one. The activities that students will carry out during the course (either in class or individually) will also be evaluated and they will matter for the formation of the final judgment

The written exam

The written exam will assess the student’s command of Arabic language, at the level required by the Course, with reference to the following main skills:

1. Understanding written messages in Arabic;
2. Translating written messages from Arabic into Italian
3. Producing written messages in Arabic.

For these reasons, the student will be asked to translate a short text from Arabic into Italian and to make some exercises (question / answer, to complete sentences, to conjugate verbs etc.). Time of the written test: 3 hours.

In the written test, students will not be awarded a mark, but they will simply get a “fitness” or “unfitness” assessment.

The written exam being preliminary to the oral exam, students not getting a “fitness” assessment will not be admitted to the oral exam.

The oral exam

The oral exam will assess the student's command of the material studied in the course. The student will be asked to provide a linguistic and historical commentary on selected texts among those analysed by the teacher during the course and will be judged on his/her ability to summarise and critically discuss topics raised in the course, making use of the exam bibliography and the course tools provided.

The assessment will thus consider the student's:
- competence in commenting on the selected texts, i.e. in identifying, translating and contextualizing them;
- knowledge and understanding of the topics covered;
- ability to summarise and analyse themes and concepts;
- familiarity with the terminology associated with the subject and his ability to use it effectively.

Top marks will be awarded to a student displaying an ability to provide a full-fledged linguistic and historical commentary of the selected texts and an overall understanding of the topics discussed during the lectures, combined with a critical approach to the material and a confident and effective use of the appropriate terminology

Average marks will be awarded to a student who has memorized the main points of the material and is able to summarise them satisfactorily and provide an effective critical commentary, while failing to display a complete command of the appropriate terminology.

A student will be deemed to have failed the exam if he/she displays significant errors in his understanding and failure to grasp the overall outlines of the subject, together with a poor command of the appropriate terminology.

Teaching tools

 

References provided in the Course Bibliography will be integrated with a wide range of other tools, mostly relying on Arabic sources (audiovisual, press, literary texts, as well as religious, legal, economic and political texts).

Office hours

See the website of Giuseppe Cecere