Cultural Exchange between Mediterranean Countries Poetry as a Model

Abstract

    The subject of this article is the Sicilian-Andalusian-African acculturation and its impact on the development of Arabic poetry, as indicated by its title. It addresses the primary role that openness to the culture of the “Other” plays in reshaping knowledge. The human experience presupposes the existence of the “Self” in relation to the “Other,” within the framework of possessing a deep awareness of one’s own cultural identity, recognizing the specificity of the Other’s identity, and activating cultural dialogue in a dimension completely removed from dependency or assimilation. Acculturation is based on concepts related to cultural and civilizational exchange, such as: parallelism, intertextuality, and opposition (mu’arada), within the framework of openness to the greatest possible amount of human knowledge, experiences, and expertise, and investing them in achieving a cognitive integration that constitutes a fundamental pillar for change. From here, we will research the cultural exchanges that brought together Sicily, Andalusia, and Africa in poetry specifically, then we will examine their impact on the development of Sicilian, Moroccan, and Andalusian poetry.

We proceed according to the following plan:

• Defining the circumstances of the emergence of Sicilian poetry and its most important sources and pioneers;
• Identifying the factors of acculturation between Sicily, Andalusia, and Africa;
• The impact of this acculturation on the development of Sicilian, Moroccan, and Andalusian poetry.

 Before addressing these axes, we pose a set of questions that we will attempt to answer in the context of this article:

• How was the identity of Sicilian poetry formed? And what are its most important sources?
• What are the factors influencing the cultural exchange between Sicily, Andalusia, and Africa?
• How did cultural exchange between the three regions contribute to the development of Sicilian, Moroccan, and Andalusian Arabic poetry?