| Popis: |
ANTHROPOLOGY OF TRADITIONAL ARABIC POETRY aims to examine what has made Arabic poetry such an effective instrument of social action and interaction, from its very beginnings to the present day. Its premise is that medieval Arabic poetry composed by tribal and court poets, and modern vernacular poetry produced by nomadic and sedentary tribes share a socially embedded poetic tradition. The project concentrates on the classical poetry of the 6th – 9th centuries. Parallel examples from the production of illiterate tribal poets of the 20th century are used to trace and analyse particularly vital features of classical Arabic poetry. This provides important new insights into the practices of Arab society in its earliest history and advances our understanding of today’s developments in the Arab world, where poetry continues to be both an articulation of values and a mechanism for exerting ideological power. |
