Nourishing the Noble: Breastfeeding and Hero-Making in Arabic Popular Literature
Abstract
This essay examines the role of nursing experiences in the formation of popular heroes in Arabic literature of the medieval period, with a focus primarily on the siyar sha‘biyya and qiṣaṣ al-anbiyā’. I find that the miraculous nursing of heroes—many of whom are foundlings—in popular texts tends to take the shape either of a providential meeting with an animal or with a woman who is capable of nursing, inspired by such tales as that of Moses or of Muḥammad’s wet nurse, Ḥalīma; prophetic literature maintains nursing as a solely human-human relationship, while heroic literature incorporates significant human-animal encounters. Using an exemplary anecdote found in manuscript and early print editions of Sīrat Dhāt al-Himma, I sketch how one such instance can travel and shift across an epic tradition, reading the experience of the hero’s foster-mother through the lens both of traditional Islamic institutions of milk kinship and a reading practice that attends closely to women’s presences and agencies in the early lives of (mostly) male literary figures of note.
The paper has been attached.
Rachel Schine is a doctoral candidate in Arabic language and literature, with a focus on medieval Arabic and Judeo-Arabic works. Her research interests include orality and storytelling practices, gender/sexuality, and race/race-making in the context of popular narrative, popular exegesis, and prophetology.
Lunch will be provided – please RSVP with the coordinators before 12/5.
Best,
Zahra Moeini & Allison Kanner