| RZ-50725-07 | Research Programs: Collaborative Research | Cornell University | Rethinking Barbary: Early Modern Dialogues with Islam | 9/1/2007 - 9/30/2012 | $150,000.00 | Maria Antonia | | Garces | | | | Cornell University | Ithaca | NY | 14850-2820 | USA | 2007 | Interdisciplinary Studies, General | Collaborative Research | Research Programs | 150000 | 0 | 150000 | 0 | The production of an English/Spanish facing-page edition of a late-16th-century account of life in Algiers. (36 months)
We intend to prepare a scholarly Spanish edition and an English translation of an early modern Iberian text, Antonio de Sosa's _Topographia, e historia general de Argel_ [Topography and General History of Algiers] (1612). Written by Sosa while imprisoned in Algiers (1577-1581), the work is a riveting account of life in 16th-century Barbary. Questioning facile distinctions between "East" and "West," Sosa offers a vivid portrait of Algiers as a crossroads of civilizations - a diverse society consisting of Turks, Arabs, Christians, Jews, and renegades. Sosa's history of Algiers offers a colorful panorama of political transactions, corsair activities, sexual practices, circumcision "fiestas," etc. Despite these riches, the Topographia remains virtually unknown to Anglo-American scholars. Our edition will modernize archaic spelling and punctuation. Our translation will provide all the necessary critical apparatus for Anglo-American readers in the humanities to access this text. |