Difference and Disability in the Medieval Islamic World: Blighted Bodies - Paperback

by Kristina Richardson (Author)

Did you know that blue eyes, baldness, bad breath and boils were all considered bodily 'blights' by Medieval Arabs, as were cross eyes, lameness and deafness? What assumptions about bodies influenced this particular vision of physical difference? How did blighted people view their own bodies? Through close analyses of anecdotes, personal letters, (auto)biographies, erotic poetry, non-binding legal opinions, diaristic chronicles and theological tracts, the cultural views and experiences of disability and difference in the medieval Islamic world are brought to life.

Back Jacket

'Richardson has written an original and highly learned first book that reveals much about the cultural construction of difference and disability and about scholarly friendships and communities that shaped that culture.' H-Disabaility, H-Net Reviews Outlines the complex significance of bodies in the late medieval central Arab Islamic lands Medieval Arab notions of physical difference can feel singularly arresting for modern audiences. Did you know that blue eyes, baldness, bad breath and boils were all considered bodily 'blights', as were cross eyes, lameness and deafness? What assumptions about bodies influenced this particular vision of physical difference? How did blighted people view their own bodies? Through close analyses of anecdotes, personal letters, (auto)biographies, erotic poetry, non-binding legal opinions, diaristic chronicles and theological tracts, the cultural views and experiences of disability and difference in the medieval Islamic world are brought to life. Key Features - Investigates the place of physically different, disabled and ill individuals in medieval Islam - Centres on the lives and works of six Muslim men, each highlighting a different aspect of bodily difference - Addresses broad cultural questions relating to social class, religious orthodoxy, moral reputation, drug use, male homoeroticism and self-representation in the public sphere - Moves towards a coherent theory of medieval disability and bodily aesthetics in Islamic cultural traditions Kristina L. Richardson is an Assistant Professor of History at Queens College, City University of New York, and has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Universities of Münster and Bonn in Germany. Jacket image: a detail of an Ottoman miniature painting from 1595 depicting the Martyrdom of Mansur al-Hallaj (c) CBL T 474.79. Jacket design: [insert logo file] www.euppublishing.com ISBN 978-0-7486-4507-7 [please add in the white area above the barcode] Barcode

Author Biography

Kristina L. Richardson is an Assistant Professor of History at Queens College, City University of New York, and has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Universities of Münster and Bonn in Germany.