TY - JOUR
AU - Kobo, Ousman
AB - bo o k re vie w s 135 transcends the collective, stereotypical character of great ladies as femmes fatales, wives, mothers, or concubines; his report lifts a veil of silence and allows us to overhear the hum of lyric, argument, wit, and elegy from women’s voices in the past.’ (p. xiv) The greatest puzzle for the modern reader is of course the role of the slave and especially the female slave in 6Abbasid culture and society. All three scholars, Shawkat M. Toorawa, Julia Bray and Marina Warner, raise the issue. How, for example, should the word jariya be translated?: ‘Slave girl’, ‘singing girl’, ‘female slave’, or just ‘slave’? In the end the editors settled on the simple ‘slave’, despite the possibility of misunderstandings caused by the position of African slaves in American history. How can one understand the role of the female slave performer as a commodity to be bought and sold (the author often gives details of the fabulous sums exchanged for these slaves), but also as a valued member of the court, whose funeral prayers in one case were led by the son of the caliph? The rich variety of experiences related here shakes our preconceived notions 
TI - Sufism, Mahdism and Nationalism. Limamou Laye and the Layennes of Senegal By Douglas H. Thomas
JF - Journal of Islamic Studies
DO - 10.1093/jis/etw050
DA - 2017-01-01
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/sufism-mahdism-and-nationalism-limamou-laye-and-the-layennes-of-hFzImvwhyi
SP - 135
EP - 139
VL - 28
IS - 1
DP - DeepDyve
ER -