I.
THE KINGDOM OF GHANA
“Salarium Argentum”
Griots… Jeli…Anansi
What does the Anansi story teach us about early peoples and
the way they construct meaning?
…READ PRINTED OUT STORY…
II.
THE TANG (618–907 ce)
Tang
Emperors:
Li Yuan
or Gaozu (621)
“Equal” distribution of land.
Li
Shimin or Taizong (626)
Civil servants and exams
Li Shi
or Kao Tsung (649)
Conquered Korean peninsula
Empress
Wu Zhao (690)
The
Zhang Brothers
“With a heart like a serpent and a nature like
that of a wolf,” one contemporary summed up, “she favored evil sycophants and
destroyed good and loyal officials…She killed her sister, butchered her elder
brothers, murdered the ruler, poisoned her mother. She is hated by gods and men
alike.”
Thinking like historians, what else might explain how she is depicted and why she is represented in this way?
Thinking like historians, what else might explain how she is depicted and why she is represented in this way?
III.
The Abbasids: 750-1258
Caliph
al-Mansur (754-755)
Baghdad… Circular City of
Peace (madinat al-salam)
founded in 762
House of Wisdom
Abbasid
Science
The Quran is clear: “The scholar’s ink is more sacred than
the blood of martyrs”, while the Prophet promoted medical research preaching
that “For every disease, Allah has given a cure.”
773 Brahmagupta’s Siddhanta—
Indian
book of mathematics
GENDER AMONG THE
ABBASIDS
Joan Wallach
Scott:
“Gender is a
primary way of signifying relationships of power. Changes in the organization
of social relationships always correspond to changes in representations of
power…Political history has, in a sense, been enacted on the field of gender.
It is a field that seems fixed but whose meaning is contested and in flux.”
Qiyan=slave girls
Where did they come from?
Abu al-Faraj al-Isbahani
(who died in 967), related this story: “An old woman who had been one of the
caliph Wathiq’ slavegirls said, ‘I was one of the girls that al-Muqtadir liked
and took pleasure in. He was one of God’s most accomplished creatures when it
came to playing the lute and he had a most moving voice, though he did his best
to keep it secret. He would only play and sing when he was alone with his
slavegirls, his intimate companions, and with me.”
You pages, pour me out a potion
Pour me to drink her soft, sweet kisses
I suffer drought; its healing draught
Is drinking from her moist fresh lips.
The smiling corners of her mouth are brilliant as chamomile;
Her speech is like embroidery, a mantle with embroidery
Lodged in the core and kernel of
My heart, she is insatiable.
She said to me: 'I'll meet with you a few nights hence.'
But day and night will wear away, and nothing new will come myw ay.
She is content without me; my
Portion is sighs to gnaw a heart of steel.
Pour me to drink her soft, sweet kisses
I suffer drought; its healing draught
Is drinking from her moist fresh lips.
The smiling corners of her mouth are brilliant as chamomile;
Her speech is like embroidery, a mantle with embroidery
Lodged in the core and kernel of
My heart, she is insatiable.
She said to me: 'I'll meet with you a few nights hence.'
But day and night will wear away, and nothing new will come myw ay.
She is content without me; my
Portion is sighs to gnaw a heart of steel.
~ Bashar ibn Burd, Islamic poet
My
pleasures were long-lasting
but now He firmly holds my hand
within His law.
Today, wine is a crime,
and you,
are against His law;
but when I remember
this and that ... and your smile,
I must leave my Lord behind forever.
but now He firmly holds my hand
within His law.
Today, wine is a crime,
and you,
are against His law;
but when I remember
this and that ... and your smile,
I must leave my Lord behind forever.
ANONYMOUS…
O Lord, why is it that
Ibn Ramin has women with bewitching eyes whilst all ye have are nags
Anonymous Poem used as
Advertising
Caliph al-Amin and the Ghulamiya
IV. Conclusion:
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