Attend this lecture by Nizar F. Hermes regarding the (Hi)Story of al-Ghazāl’s Journey to the (Is)Lands of the Vikings and Its Afterlife in a Contemporary Arabic Poem.

"I my talk, I will revisit Andalusian Ibn Diḥya’s (d. 1235) account of his predecessor Yaḥyā al-Ghazāl’s (d.866) alleged ninth-century embassy to a Viking court. Amidst this, I will relate some of my most interesting experiences teaching this fascinating (hi)story in North America to ethnically and culturally diverse students especially in comparison to the tenth century Risālah of Ibn Faḍlān (d.960) and a vernacular Algerian malḥūn (folk song/poem) on the 1770 Danish-Norwegian siege and bombardment of Algiers at the height of the Danish-Algerian wars (1769-1772). Last but not least, I will explore the upsurge of widely romanticized and romanticizing literary and artistic interest in premodern Muslim-Viking encounters in the Middle East and North Africa namely as discursively articulated in contemporary Arabic poetry, documentaries, and TV series."

Registration is not required, and all are welcome.

The poster for the lecture.