Mutual othering : perceptions of Jews, Muslims and Christians c.1100-1250 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

Abstract

Scholarship on Jews, Muslims and Christians in the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries is extensive. So too is the application of theories regarding the Other to explain relations between them. Yet the othering of different groups that occurred is mostly discussed as though it were a one-way process. Relations between the peoples of monotheistic faiths are often presented in terms of dichotomies. Edward Said’s Orientalism has been especially influential in creating these viewpoints. Yet critics argue that Said’s work neglected the complex reality of alterity, a neglect which can even lead to the very faults of essentialism and generalizing tendencies that it denounces. This thesis builds on arguments, such as those of Homi Bhabha, that othering was not a practice limited to one group and did not flow only from ‘West’ to ‘East. It explores the many stereotypes that were generated by three groups about the Other in order to establish a sense of difference and Self. It also examines the similarities in othering strategies employed by Jewish, Muslim and Christian writers, which exemplify a two-way flow in the process of othering. This approach is taken to offer a broader and more holistic and nuanced understanding of the mutual nature of othering in the medieval period.