Laila Jreis Navarro (Al-Andalus|Magreb Chair, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Chile)) @layla_jreis
25 November 2019
Lecture: The Last Pre-modern Arab Splendor over the Euro-African Strait: Renaissance “Gap” and Digital Transition
Abstract: In the middle of the 13th century, the fall of the Almohad empire meant the end of the Islamic West unity over the Strait of Gibraltar. A century later, an Andalusian family will propitiate, in connection with the Maghreb, the last joint Arab-Islamic cultural splendor between the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa before the advent of European modernity. This presentation highlights the work of an Arab elite who bequeathed an exceptional output in such a context. First, it shows an outbreak of self-expression that will culminate in the memoirs of exile and the autobiography of the two most prominent figures: the Granadian Ibn al-Khatib and the Tunisian Ibn Khaldun. Second, it places both characters within a network of sages who contributed to a wave of innovations in various fields of knowledge, with a clear tendency towards pragmatism and the centrality of human experience. Third, it questions the general idea of a gap between the two sides of the Strait after the fall of Granada. Finally, the presentation will advocate for the necessity of a dialogue between philology and language technologies in this case study, indicating some of the challenges that Arabic poses in this process.
Bio: Laila Jreis has a degree in Arabic Philology and a Ph.D. in Languages, Texts, and Contexts from the University of Granada. Her research revolves around the political and cultural relations during the 14th century over the Strait of Gibraltar and, specifically, the development of self-expression in pre-modern Arabic texts from the Islamic West. Her current postdoctoral project has received support from the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development of the Chilean government, with the sponsorship of the Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez within the al-Andalus|Magreb Chair. It seeks to define the epistemological keys of the Andalusian and Maghrebian transition to the European Renaissance through language technologies that facilitate the processing of texts in Classical Arabic. Laila has undertaken training and research stays at universities in Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, and the United Kingdom, and has published in Spanish and American scientific journals; she also holds a degree in Plastic Arts and Design and another in Digital Humanities.