CONTRACONDUCTA EN VERSO: AMOR Y SEXUALIDAD INTERCONFESIONAL COMO HERRAMIENTA DE PODER EN AL-ÁNDALUS

Abstract

This study examines interfaith relationships in Christian, Muslim, and Sephardic songbooks from Medieval Spain in connection with Foucault’s concepts of power and counter-conduct. These interreligious sexual and romantic interactions are addressed in various songs, although at a significantly lower rate in comparison to those which lack religious implications. This disparity points to act of (self) censorship by the poets and reflects the realities of their time. Moreover, there is a notable pattern of different textual mechanisms meant to allude to interfaith relationships as a way to defy established legal and religious codes on the Iberian Peninsula. This thesis analyzes mechanisms like symbolic and evocative poetic language as well as the partial or total absence of such relationships in the lyrics at hand, thereby revising these texts and offering new interpretations that ultimately reinforce the notion of cultural exchange of the Tres culturas.