Blogging experience

Has it been fun?

I have found blogging to be both rewarding and frustrating. I must say, I have felt satisfied when during the course of research, I have stumbled across a picture, podcast or video that I have thought would "look good on my blog". I also found the end product satisfying.

What have you enjoyed most?

I enjoyed adding pictures and 'bells & whistles' to my blog. Even though the 'bells and whistles' that I added are very primitive in comparison to most, I enjoyed adding them none the less!

What was the most difficult task?

I found that blogging was very time consuming for me. Working full time and having a young family means that my study time is unfortunately limited, so I found that when something wasn't working for me, (i.e. uploading a video) I got very frustrated with the amount of time I spent fiddling around with it. I also spent more time than I should have fiddling around with the blog's layout, colours and the various templates. Too much choice!!

Have you surprised yourself? How?

I guess I am surprised at how much I have absorbed over the course. I feel quite comfortable with the blogger dashboard, adding videos and pictures now. When I first started I was having problems just logging in!

Will you use any of these tools in the future?

I think blogs are great for showing information. It is a great way to document a project, keep distant family and friends up to date, share music and videos with like minded souls (just to name a few uses). I'm not sure if I will using it in the near future, but I'm glad that if I'm required to do so, I'll have an idea of were to start.

A Cultural mix

"Modern science begins in 13th-century Europe, based firmly on the plinth furnished by translations from Arabic and Greek." (Fletcher 1993)

If you click the above link (a cultural mix) it will lead you to an interesting podcast relating to the cultural climate in Cordoba during the Islamic Golden age. The court was open to the ideas of Muslims, Jews and Christians alike, and as a result was the a great meeting place for intellectuals of the time.Cordoba was, for a few centuries, a place were Islam and Christianity coexisted peacefully. This was a time of great information exchange, it is where the culture of the Arabs came into contact with the west, and therefore, the western world was introduced to the ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans.

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References

Fletcher, Richard 1993, Moorish Spain, University of California Press, California.

Menocal, Maria Rosa 2006, Golden age of Spain: cross pollination of Muslim, Jewish and Christian culture in medieval Spain, Yale University, 2 May, viewed 23 May 2010.

Van Der Zee, Bibi 2010, Córdoba: the city that changed the world, The Guardian, viewed 23 May 2010.

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/cordoba-city-changed-world)

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Research reflections

While conducting my research, I have found that by narrowing down the topic to the very specific, more accurate and useful information could be found. The information that I have put up on this blog is merely the very tip of the iceberg as far as the information sourced. I found that once I had honed in on a particular time, place and/or person(s) the research became much easier. Some of the difficulties I had were trying to ascertain if a source of information was up to date or reliable. When you are dealing with Islamic and western histories you can sometimes come up with some sources that have a hidden agenda. I also regret not formulating a question for myself before beginning the research. Perhaps if I had created a question from the brief I chose, I may have been able to pinpoint the research and information required in a more timely manner. I did find that I spent a lot more time reading and evaluating information than I would have liked.

Paper trail

"In the ninth century, the library of the monastery of St. Gall was the largest in Europe. It boasted 36 volumes. At the same time, that of Cordoba contained 500,000" (Lunde 1982)

The above quote gives an idea of how far advanced the Islamic libraries were during the Islamic golden age of the 5th - 13th centuries. Apparently, Muslim societies had access to paper during this time, allowing books to be printed, whereas the western world did not.Paper was invented in China in the first century, but it was Muslim merchants who bought it to the west were it was put to good use in developing the amazing book culture that was to follow.

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References

Lunde, Paul 1982, Science: the Islamic legacy, Saudi Armco World, viewed 20 May 2010.

(http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198203/science.the.islamic.legacy-science.in.al-andalus.htm)

Cotter, Holland 2001, The Story of Islam's Gift of Paper to the West, New York Times, viewed 21 May 2010, (http://web.utk.edu/~persian/paper.htm)

Cordoba, the jewel of Europe

Cordoba is in southern Spain on the Iberian peninsular, and from 929 to 1031 a.d. it was ruled by the Caliphate (a system of government) of Córdoba. This Caliphate not only ruled the Iberian peninsula, but also North Africa, all form the city of Cordoba. In the 10th century the city was considered to be one of the most civilized in Europe. One of it's most famed buildings was the Corodoba Mosque.

This building housed the largest university in Europe at the time with over 4000 students.

Caliph Al-Hakam II (who ruled from 961 to 976) created a library in within the mosque that consisted of an estimated 400,000 - 600,00 books, with a catalogue of 44 volumes listing title and author. These books were made available to everyone. I found an interesting article on Cordoba below:

http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=454

Below is a 10th century account of an Arabic 'house of books':

...the library constituted a library by itself; there was a superintendent, a librarian and an inspector chosen from the most trustworthy people in the country. There is no book written up to this time in whatever branch of science but the prince has acquired a copy of it. The library consists of one long vaulted room, annexed to which there are store rooms. The prince had made along the large room and the store chambers, scaffoldings about the height of a man, three yards wide, of decorated wood, which have shelves from top to bottom; the books are arranged on the shelves and for every branch of learning there are separate scaffolds. There are also catalogues in which all the titles of the books are entered

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References

2010, Cordoba, Muslim Heritage, viewed 18 May, 2010, (http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?articleID=454)

Prince, C 2002 'The Historical Context of Arabic Translation, Learning, and The Libraries of Medieval Andalusia', Everything2, viewed 18 May, 2010 (http://everything2.com/title/Historical+Evidence+Regarding+the+Libraries+of+Muslim+Spain)

Rojunson 2009, Medina Azahara 3D, 29 January, viewed 15 May 2010. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDXCSEygUdo&feature)

Skewed histories

"When we study Europe's Middle Ages, we seldom include Spain (at least not until after the "reconquest"). Our libraries abound with books on the Middle Ages, but try to find in any of them a single word about daily life and customs in Spain. It is as if later historians, in order to justify a uniquely "European history", ignored the fact that a vibrant and brilliant civilization created by "Others"—by Arabs, by Muslims, —not only existed in Europe, but without whose contributions the region could not have become what it did.
From the introduction to A Medieval Banquet in the Alhambra Palace, Audrey Shabbas, editor, AWAIR, 1991.

This seems to be the position that a lot of articles about early Muslim learning in Spain take. The fact that the Christians of Europe were happy to inherit the legacy of the Arab occupation of Spain, but were reluctant to acknowledge its Islamic origin is understandably something that still resonates. I found an interesting article here:

http://www.islamfortoday.com/spain01.htm

Some astonishing information, found in a BBC article, about the amount of libraries (seventy! I lots of work opportunities there I imagine) in Cordoba, the capital of Umayyad Spain in the 10th century.














There were half a million inhabitants, living in 113,000 houses. There were 700 mosques and 300 public baths spread throughout the city and its twenty-one suburbs. The streets were paved and lit...There were bookshops and more than seventy libraries.
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References

Butt, G 1998, Spain's Islamic past, Islam for today, viewed 15 May 2010, (http://www.islamfortoday.com/spain01.htm).

2009,Muslim Spain (711-1492) BBC, viewed 14 May 2010, (http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/spain_1.shtml)
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Research reflections for first three posts

I have found it difficult to find information about Spanish libraries and daily life during the 8th - 13th centuries. I have been trying different search strings and found that when I have tried things like "Libraries Muslim Spain" I found little success, I found that the most successful searches included words such as Spain Islamic and history. This in turn would lead me to sites and journal articles that would features sections on the book and library culture of the time. I feel like I'm reaching a break through with my research after a long time of (seemingly) hitting walls.
I have decided that future research will be based around Cordoba the capital of Umayyad Spain. This might help me to narrow my searches, and hopefully uncover some more specific material.

The house of wisdom

Searching the web and various library catalogues I realized that my research scope is perhaps a little broad. So I went to the library and did some general research to try and narrow my subject down. At Swinburne library I found two items on the history of libraries , including an accessibly written book titled "Library: and unquiet history". It had a very succinct paragraph, that I've quoted below, on the history of libraries:

"When the armies of Muhammad swept north out of the Arabian peninsula's in the seventh century, they conquered a Persia that retained the splendour of its ancient culture. The treasures of the Persian libraries - which through centuries of conflict with Greece had filled up with not only Persian texts but with the science and philosophy of the Hellenic world- were opened up to the translators. Now under the calligraphers hands, Greek science followed Persian poetry into Arabic. Thus began an epoch of Muslim library building that would last a thousand years, eventually delivering a shared Greek heritage to the hands of an upstart Europe"

It's interesting that western media portrays the Arab world as primitive, yet we owe much of our book culture to Islam!

It is generally believed that the Islamic golden age mid-8th to the mid-13th century, with the Muslim conquer of Spain dated 711 AD, so I will keep my research to that time period.



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References

Battles, M 2003, Library: an unquiet history, W.W. Norton & Co., New York.

Infokpt 2009, Muslim's contribution to science, July 25, viewed 6 May 2010.
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-Jtk8HJ-Tg&feature)

Lerner, F 2000, Libraries through the ages, Continuum Publishing Co., New York.