In the Arab-Andalusian textual legacy, first-person expression did not hold a conventional place, as Arab-Islamic and pre-modern traditions in general did not have specific genres for writing about the self. This suggests that individual forms of private expression are unique to the modern individual, making it difficult to perceive forms of personal expression which are different from those we are familiar with, as well as understanding works from Al-Andalus which, in a certain sense, form a dialogue with our current ways of viewing self-expression.

During this talk, Prof. Jreis-Navarro will discuss the changes in first-person expression in Al-Andalus, showing the relationship it has held with certain turning points throughout its historical development, presenting certain individuals who broke with conventional spaces using their own private voices, showing how they created new textual spaces for emotional expression.

Laila M. Jreis-Navarro is a tenured professor with the Department of Linguistics and Hispanic Literatures at the University of Zaragoza and a member of the Clarisel group at the Institute of Heritage and Humanities at the same institution. Her research focuses on the study of subjective forms of expression in the Arab-Andalusian textual legacy by analyzing its writing genres and linguistic codification. Her recent work has included editing the collective volume Nasrid Emotions: Chronicle of a transition (Editorial CSIC, 2025). https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4455-4745.