Spring 2017 Grant Recipient
Graduate Student
Andrea Pauw (Spanish) My dissertation examines the often-neglectedAljamiadotexts composed by Spanish Muslims during the sixteenth century. Written in a combination of Spanish, Arabic, and Aljamiado (Spanish transliterated with the Arabic alphabet) the manuscripts provide critical insight into the realities of Spain's persecuted Muslim population, known asMoriscos. This summer, I will continue my research on various Aljamiado manuscripts housed in Spain's National Library. The CGII's generous support will enable me to make the most of my extended stay in Madrid by enrolling in intensive Arabic courses while concurrently consulting manuscripts. This project seeks to understand the Moriscos' textual legacy from an anthropological perspective, rather than a philological or linguistic one as was often done in the past. The Moriscos' marginalized literature and their posterior historiographical representations shed light on the most pressing questions of the 21stcentury.