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Workshop on “Andalusian Poetesses, Scientists and Wise Women: Doing away with clichés and myths”

April 05, 2022

As part of the Nights of Ramadan 2022 in Cordoba, we are hosting this workshop by Matilde Cabello, with whom we will learn more about the knowledge held by the most important female figures in Moorish history. Sign up now in order to attend

“The spirit of women is devoid of any idea other than that of sexual union... women are unconcerned with anything else, and for nothing else were they created,” claimed Ibn Hazm. That is the image which was conveyed about women in Al-Andalus by both Christian culture, and Romantic painters and travelers. This bias has also affected the study and knowledge of Al-Andalus history, in which women have been and continue to be much less known than their male counterparts. However, we find great examples of females throughout history who demonstrate the incalculable value of the contributions made by such women in various fields of knowledge. Poetesses, scientists and wise women like Wallada who, through their work, allow us to discover a part of Moorish history so often unknown to the public, and the social, cultural, political and economic contributions by women, some of which continue to exist today.

Matilde Cabello
A poet, novelist and investigative reporter, in addition to El fruto de Aljamía (The Fruit of Aljamía, published by the Provincial Government of Cordoba, 1990) and Juego desigual (Unequal Game, Renacimiento, 2015), she has had a dozen poetry books published, some acknowledged with domestic and foreign awards, and a similar number of minor works. She also wrote the novelsWallada, la última luna (Wallada, the Last Moon, Ahora 2001; Almuzara 2005; Castelvecchi, Rome, 2012), El Libro de las Parturientas (The Midwives’ Book, El Páramo 2008; second edition, 2011), El pozo del manzano (The Apple Tree Well, Buendía, 2014) and Gentes de Luz: 100 biografías cordobesas (Peoples and Light: 100 Cordoba biographies, Utopía, 2016). She has authored at least ten tourism and culture guides about the history, cultural heritage and festivals of Cordoba, as well as working as a reporter and scriptwriter for audiovisuals and written media in Cordoba and occasionally in the Maghreb region, including Diario Córdoba, El Día de Córdoba, TVM and Vive7 (1989-2018). She has developed releases and presentations about Women in Al-Andalus, Woman and “copla” music, the Medina Azahara archeological site, the city of poets, women in the second half of the twentieth century, the waters of Villaharta and Cervelló, and others, in the American cities of Albany and Erie, as well as Cuba, the Maghreb region and Spain. A script writer and storyteller in shows like El Quijote en Córdoba, Mátame de Pena, Dime que me quieres and Cinco mujeres años 20 (from 2018 to the present), in addition to at least one thousand reports published in written and audiovisual media, she has directed the documentary films Pilar Sarasola, una mujer contra corriente (Pilar Sarasola: A woman against the Flow, 2012) and Elio Benhager, la fuerza de una profecía (Elio Benhager: the Power of a Prophecy, 2017). Her writings have also been fully or partially translated into French, English, Arabic and Italian.
Workshop on “Andalusian Poetesses, Scientists and Wise Women: Doing away with clichés and myths”