Learn to Read Spanish in Arabic Script: An Introduction to Aljamiado

In the medieval and early modern Iberian Peninsula, communities of Muslims and Moriscos (Muslim converts to Christianity) wrote aljamiado (also called aljamía) texts: Spanish, Portuguese, and other Romance languages like Mozarabic and Ladino, recorded in Arabic script.  

In the first part of this workshop, participants will get a brief overview of the historical, linguistic, religious, and cultural conditions that generated aljamiado writing systems.  

For the bulk of the workshop, we will learn how to read aljamiado and then collaborate to decipher an aljamiado text. Speakers and readers of all languages are welcome, but we especially hope to recruit those with knowledge of Arabic and/or Spanish, in order to pair readers with different language skills to work together.

This workshop is being taught by Dr. Elizabeth Spragins, Assistant Professor of Spanish at College of the Holy Cross, and author of A Grammar of the Corpse: Necroepistemology in the Early Modern Mediterranean.

Lunch will be provided!

This workshop will be: In-person only

Physical location of this workshop: Howard-Tilton Memorial Library, Room 430