TY  - JOUR
T1  - The Medieval Perception of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Benjamin of Tudela’s Travelogue
TT  - Tudelalı Benjamin'in Seyahatnamesinde Yahudilerin, Hristiyanların ve Müslümanların Orta Çağ'daki Algısı
AU  - Taflı Düzgün, Hülya
AU  - Güllüce, Şerife
PY  - 2025
DA  - June
Y2  - 2025
JF  - Ortaçağ Araştırmaları Dergisi
JO  - OAD
PB  - Murat SERDAR
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 2667-4882
SP  - 79
EP  - 90
VL  - 8
IS  - 1
LA  - en
AB  - Travelogues are narratives that provide insights into the lives, customs, and religions of different societies. They offer reflections on human interactions and cultural exchanges, helping to develop a comprehensive understanding of societies. Medieval travelogues, often based on personal observations, offer genuine portrayals of complex and diverse medieval societies. Edward Said argues that Western depictions of the East have historically been distorted and oversimplified to justify European dominance and imperialism. However, adapting Said’s perspective to the Middle Ages appears problematic. He emphasizes how the construction of the East as the Other in Western discourse has influenced the production of knowledge about the East. The main concern of this paper is to explore the concepts of self and other, as well as the medieval East and West, opposing Said's perspective. This paper aims to show that the binary oppositions of Orientalism are unfounded by analyzing the travelogue by Benjamin of Tudela, a medieval Jewish traveler. In other words, this paper explores how Benjamin’s Jewish identity shaped his perspective and how he embraces a tolerant view of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, challenging the East-West dichotomy.
KW  - Middle Ages
KW  - Literature
KW  - Travelogue
KW  - Dichotomy
N2  - Seyahatnameler, farklı toplumların yaşamlarına, geleneklerine ve dinlerine dair içgörüler sunan anlatılardır. Seyahatnameler, insan etkileşimleri ve kültürel alışverişler üzerine düşünceler sunar ve farklı bir bakış açısı geliştirmeye yardımcı olur. Orta Çağ seyahatnameleri, genellikle kişisel gözlemlere dayanan, karmaşık ve çeşitli Orta Çağ toplumlarının gerçekçi tasvirlerini sunar. Edward Said, Batı'nın Doğu'yu tarihsel olarak çarpıttığını ve basitleştirdiğini, bunun da Avrupa'nın egemenliğini ve emperyalizmini haklı çıkarmak için yapıldığını savunmaktadır. Batı söyleminde Doğu'nun Diğer olarak inşa edilmesinin, Doğu hakkında bilgi üretimini nasıl etkilediğini vurgulamaktadır. Ancak Said’in bu bakış açısını Orta Çağ dönemine uyarlamak çok da mümkün görünmemektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, öz ve öteki kavramlarını, ayrıca Orta Çağ Doğu ve Batı’sını keşfetmek ve Said'in bakış açısına karşıt bir duruş sergilemektir. Bu makale, Orta Çağda yaşamış bir gezgin olan Benjamin of Tudela'nın seyahatnamesini analiz ederek, Oryantalizmin ikili karşıtlıklarının temelsiz olduğunu göstermeyi amaçlamaktadır. Başka bir deyişle, bu makale Benjamin'in Yahudi kimliğinin bakış açısını nasıl sınırladığını ve Doğu-Batı ikiliğine karşı Yahudilere, Hristiyanlara ve Müslümanlara karşı nasıl hoşgörülü bir bakış açısı benimsediğini incelemektedir.
CR  - Adler, Marcus Nathan. The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Critical Text, Translation and Commentary, New York, 1907.
CR  - Balbas, Leopoldo Torres. “Cities Founded by the Muslims in al-Andalus.” in The Formation of al-Andalus, Part 1: History and Society, ed. Manuela Marin, Routledge, 2016.
CR  - Chazan, Robert. “The deteriorating image of the Jews — twelfth and thirteenth centuries.” in Christendom and Its Discontents: Exclusion, Persecution and Rebellion, 1000-1500, eds. Scott L. Waugh and Peter D. Diehl, Cambridge University Press, 1996.
CR  - Christie, Niall. Muslims and Crusaders: Christianity’s Wars in the Middle East, 1095–1382, from the Islamic Sources, Routledge, 2020.
CR  - Cohen, Mark R. Under Crescent and Cross: The Jews in the Middle Ages, Princeton University Press, 1994.
CR  - Frank, Daniel. “Rabbanites and Karaites in the East (Tenth–Eleventh Centuries).” in Medieval Islamic Civilization: A-K, Index, ed. Josef W. Meri, Taylor & Francis, 2006.
CR  - Friedman, John Block and Kristen Mossler Figg. Trade, Travel, and Exploration in the Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia, Routledge, 2000.
CR  - Ibn Jubayr, The Travels of Ibn Jubayr: A Medieval Journey from Cordoba to Jerusalem. Translated by Ronald Broadhurst, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2020.
CR  - Jacobs, Martin. “A Day’s Journey: Spatial Perceptions and Geographic Imagination in Benjamin of Tudela’s Book of Travels.” The Jewish Quarterly Review, 109/2 (2019): 203–32.
CR  - Jacobs, Martin. Reorienting the East: Jewish Travelers to the Medieval Muslim World, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.
CR  - Jacobs, Martin. “From Lofty Caliphs to Uncivilized 'Orientals' - Images of the Muslim in Medieval Jewish Travel Literature.” Jewish studies quarterly 18.1 (2011): 64–90.
CR  - Jacoby, David. Medieval Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean and Beyond, Routledge, 2018.
CR  - Meri, Josef W. The Cult of Saints Among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria, Oxford University Press, 2002.
CR  - Nadhiri, Aman Y. Saracens and Franks in 12th - 15th Century European and Near Eastern Literature: Perceptions of Self and the Other, Routledge, 2017.
CR  - Ray, Jonathan. Jewish Life in Medieval Spain: A New History, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023.
CR  - Said, Edward W. Orientalism, Vintage Books, 1979.
CR  - Szpiech, Ryan. “Turning and returning: Religious conversion and personal testimony in Iberian societies.” in The Routledge Hispanic Studies Companion to Medieval Iberia, ed. E. Michael Gerli and Ryan D. Giles. Routledge, 2021.
CR  - Talmon-Heller, Daniella. Islamic Piety in Medieval Syria. Mosques, Cemeteries and Sermons under the Zangids and Ayyūbids (1146–1260), Brill, 2007.
CR  - Tolan, John Victor. “Dhimmis and Mudejars.” in Europe and the Islamic World: A History. trans. Jane Marie Todd, Princeton University Press, 2013.
CR  - Tyerman, Christopher God’s War: A New History of the Crusades, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2006.
CR  - Weber, Elka. “Sharing the sites: Medieval Jewish travelers to the Land of ‘Israel.” in Eastward Bound: Travel and Travellers, 1050-1550, ed. Rosamund Allen, Manchester University Press, 2004.
CR  - Weber, Elka. Traveling through Text: Message and Method in Late Medieval Pilgrimage Accounts, Routledge, 2005.
UR  - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/oad/issue//1562057
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/4266504
ER  -