Donne e resistenza: il caso libico letto attraverso studi contemporanei

Notes on the Arabic Manuscript III.C.4 in the Central Library of the Sicilian Region

Abstract Among the Arabic manuscripts preserved in the Alberto Bombace Central Library of the Sicilian Region in Palermo there is an anonymous and acephalous document, the ms. III.C.4., which provides, as its only identification signs, the shelf-mark S.M.43., indicating that it used to belong to the Library of the Benedictine Abbey of San Martino delle Scale, and a cursory Italian explanatory annotation provided in 1796 by the Archbishop of Aleppo. As a preliminary step toward the critical analysis of the above-mentioned document, which will be the subject of further study, this paper will attempt to provide a codicological description of the manuscript together with a philological and hist…

Identity and Self-Representation in al-Hajari's Travel Account

This study focuses on some important aspects concerning the contacts between the Arab-Islamic World and Western Europe in the Ottoman period and, more specifically, the nature and typology of relationships between al-Maġrib al-aqṣā’ and Europe in the 17th century, with particular attention to the modalities of cultural exchanges and the role of the ‘ulamā’ in the process of transmission of knowledge. The choice of considering Travel Accounts or Riḥlāt as historical sources of this study is motivated by the intention of analysing the issue “from within”, according to a methodological approach that privileges the philological-comparative analysis. Within the large framework of this genre, the…

Paolo Branca, Barbara De Poli, Patrizia Zanelli, Il sorriso della mezzaluna. Umorismo, ironia e satira nella cultura araba (prefazione di Mario Scialoja), Carocci, Roma 2011, pp. 196.

Uno dei problemi principali sottesi all’insegnamento e, ancor prima, allo studio di discipline arabo-islamiche è la necessità di scardinare pregiudizi e stereotipi, tanto superficiali e generalizzanti quanto dilaganti e profondamente radicati nella mentalità e nell’opinione comuni occidentali. Nutrita da una visione eurocentrica e gerarchizzante del mondo e delle culture, che da secoli impera incontrastata contri- buendo a fomentare pregiudizi e diffidenze nei confronti dell’altro arabo e/o musulmano, l’immagine parziale e stereotipata di kamikaze, concubine e fondamentalisti ha progressivamente sostituito – sovrapponendosi ad essa – l’essenza caleidoscopica della cultura araba, negandone g…

The "Umberto Rizzitano Collection" at the Regional Library of Palermo

Umberto Rizzitano was one of the most important Italian Orientalists. Born in Alexandria of Egypt in 1913 into a Sicilian family, he studied Arabic language and literature at the Oriental School of Rome under the supervision of Giorgio Levi della Vida, Michelangelo Guidi and Carlo Alfonso Nallino. He directed the Italian Institute of Culture in Cairo and the Istituto per l’Oriente in Rome. Revivifier of the glorious past of Arabic studies in Palermo after the death of the eminent and well-known orientalist Michele Amari, Umberto Rizzitano taught Arabic Language and Literature at the University of Palermo. Among his most important works we remember his Italian translations of the novel Zayna…

L'immagine degli Ottomani nelle rahalat ,agribine: "Ma' al-mawa'id" di Abu Salim al-'Ayyashi e "Al-nafha al-miskiyya" di Abu'l-Hasan al-Tamkruti

Un chiodo per Mussolini (Mismār li-Mūssūlīnī)

Ali Mustafa al-Misrati is one of the most eclectic and well-known contemporary Libyan writers. His wide and rich literary activity includes historical, political and social novels, essays and short stories, most of which reveals his civil commitment against colonialism in the Arab world and his support for Arab nationalism and unity of Libya. The short story that we have translated and presented here takes place in Libya under the Italian colonization. The plot arises from the Duce‟s visit to Tripoli in 1937 and tells the story of Far'as, an artisan who was asked to make an elegant Arabic horse-saddle to be given to the Duce as a special gift for his visit. But Far'as was a mujahid. His fat…

In Other Words: The Ethics of the Translator in 17th-century al-Andalus. The Perspective of Aḥmad Ibn Qāsim al-Ḥaǧarī al-Andalusī

This study focuses on a particular aspect of the Translation Studies orDirāsāt al-tarǧamah, i.e. the ethics of the translator.Starting from the analysis of concepts like “cultural otherness” or “linguistic hospitality”, theorized by Antoine Berman, Lawrence Venuti and Paul Ricoeur, and concerning the translator’s process of mediating between languages and between cultures, it will be taken into account the specific case of a muslim traveller and interpreter, Aḥmad ibn Qāsim al-Ḥaǧarī al-Andalusī (d. 1051/1641), author of theKitāb Nāṣir al-dīn ʿalà l-qawm al-kāfirīn, who was asked, by a Christian authority (the Archbishop of Granada), to translate some Arabic manuscripts.In such a context, t…

Displacement(s) and Identity in the Libyan Story "Al-Malika" by Nağwa Binšatwan

In a context of political repression and social oppression like Libya used to be before the Arab Spring, the literary representation of displacement assumes a central role and sometimes becomes a metaphor of an existential condition. Starting from the analysis of some short stories taken from Al-malika by Nağwa Benshatwan – one of the most interesting voices of Libya’s Contemporary literary landscape – this paper will focus on the concept of displacement interpreted not only as a physical and/or figurative migration but also as a tool for representing personal and collective identity Dans le climat de répression politique et d’oppression sociale qui caractérise la Libye d’avant la “révoluti…

Kitab Nasir al-Din 'ala'l-qawm al-kafirin. Il difensore della religione contro il popolo degli infedeli.

Nel 1611, a Marrakesh, il sultano sa‘diano Mawlāy Zaydān incaricò il segretario ed interprete ufficiale di corte al-Hağarī di guidare una missione diplomatica in Francia e in Olanda per ottenere la restituzione dei beni indebitamente sottratti ai Moriscos durante la loro espulsione dall’Andalus per ordine del re Filippo III. Di questo viaggio al-Hağarī scriverà un resoconto dettagliato contenente, oltre alle descrizioni di luoghi, usi e costumi, anche le numerose dispute di natura teologica e religiosa che l’autore ebbe occasione d’intavolare con gli uomini di scienza cristiani ed ebrei incontrati durante la sua permanenza in Europa. Il testo riveste molteplici motivi d’interesse storico, l…

Dalya Abudi, Mothers and Daughters in Arab Women's Literature. The family Frontier, Brill, Leiden-Boston 2011, pp. 335

Le dinamiche inter-relazionali all’interno della famiglia araba e, in particolare, il rapporto madre-figlia nella letteratura araba femminile nell’ultimo mezzo secolo sono le tematiche centrali dell’interessante studio di Dalya Abudi, Mothers and Daughters in Arab Women’s Literature. Il saggio in questione presenta molteplici spunti di riflessione e svariati motivi di interesse. In primis, la scelta del tema. Partendo dall’assunto che la famiglia araba rappresenta una sorta di microcosmo della società, l’analisi interdisciplinare delle dinamiche inter-familiari condotta dalla studiosa rigorosamente dall’interno, ha come immediata conseguenza la demistificazione degli stereotipi tradizionali…

Donne e città: lo spazio urbano damasceno nelle cronache locali del diciottesimo secolo

The Presence of Mašriqian 'Ulama' at Ahmad al-Mansur’s Court, according to the Maghribian Tarajim of the Period

Mithly: l'amore che osa dire il suo nome

This paper aims at casting light on the first Arab-language gay magazine from Morocco and the Arab World. “Mithly”, which in Arabic has the double meaning of “homo” and “like me”, appeared for the first time on the web and in print (200 copies) in Rabat on April 1st 2010. The first issue, composed of fifteen pages (fourteen in Arabic and one in French), contains articles on different themes: reflections on politics, life and love, personal experiences and a short story, whose integral Italian translation is offered in Appendix.

Arabic Literary Biography. Contacts between Maghreb and Sudanese 'ulama' in 16th-17th Century Biographical Dictionaries.

This paper aims at analysing the network of contacts (ṣilāt, rawābiṭ) between maghribi and sudanese ‘ulamā’ in 16th-17th century, starting from the analysis of a peculiar typology of Arabic literary sources: the "kutub al-tarāğim" or biographical dictionaries. The maghribian conquest of the Bilād al-Sūdān, pursued in 1591 by the far-seeing expansionistic policy of the Sa‘dian sultan Aḥmad al-Manṣūr al-Ḏahabī (1578-1603) - probably the most important and best known Sa‘dian sovereign - enhanced the ancient uninterrupted network of contacts and interactions among ‘ulamā’ throughout the Arab World, which is testified even by the Medieval Arabic historical, geographical and literary sources. Aḥm…

Il sistema delle relazioni tra Magrib al-aqsa e mondo arabo-ottomano in epoca sa'diana. Il ruolo degli ulama' a partire dalla produzione biografica

The history of Islam has always been characterized by a system of continuous osmosis and interactions between Arabic West (Maġrib) and East (Mašriq). This study aims at analyzing the peculiar system of relationships between al-Maġrib al-aqṣā and al-dawla al-'uṯmāniyya during the Sa'dian period (16th - 17th centuries). Starting from the unexplored outstanding Arabic literary production - mainly maġribian biographical dictionaries (tarāǧim) and travel accounts (riḥlāt) - the author focuses on the uninterrupted system of ties and contacts (rawābiṭ and ṣilāt) among maġribian and mašriqian 'ulamā' as well as on the modalities of transmission of knowledges within the Arab-Islamic World. Through t…

Al di qua e al di là della colonia: satira come opposizione al regime coloniale in un racconto di 'Ali Mustafà al-Misrati

Italian scholars and Arabists have only recently started to pay attention towards Libya and this country's rich and fascinating literary production. Libyan writers are, in fact, still unknown to most people in Italy, where merely a few Italian translations of Libyan works and critical essays on Libyan literature have been published until now. Yet, Libya's contemporary literary scene features outstanding figures, such as the eclectic writer 'Ali Mustafà al-Misrati, whose novels, short stories and essays deal with significant historical, political and social themes. Starting from the analysis of one of author's tales focused on the Libyan opposition against Italian colonialism, this article p…

Appendice. Il frutto dell'amore. Racconto breve di Karim Ziyad

The Sa‘dian Magrib al-aqsa: Marginality or Imperialistic vocation?

Il nucleo di manoscritti arabi provenienti da San Martino delle Scale e conservati presso la Biblioteca Centrale della Regione Siciliana

Abstract Among the manuscripts located into the Central Library of the Sicilian Region “Alberto Bombace” in Palermo there is a corpus of Arabic manuscripts coming from the Benedictine Monastery of San Martino delle Scale, as testified by the shelf-mark S.M., indicating that they used to belong to the Library of San Martino delle Scale’s Monastery. Through an in-depth philological and historical investigation, the author will try to give a general description of the documents providing a reconstruction of their arrival to San Martino delle Scale first and then to the Central Library of the Sicilian Region.

CNMD\0000175268

Scheda catalografica del manoscritto III.C.4. (Biblioteca centrale della Regione siciliana, Palermo, Manoscritti orientali)