What is it about?
The 10th-century Arabic author al-Tanukhi recorded a number of anecdotes about Indians and Indian elephants. They could be classified as either "exotic" - they invite wonder and admiration at the way God's providence works through unfamiliar agents - or as ethnological and ethological.
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Why is it important?
A typology and close reading of the anecdotes shows that al-Tanukhi was trying to demonstrate what is universal and rational in human and animal behaviours, not what is bizarre, alien and mysterious. This article is not the first to challenge the notion of the "exotic" and exoticism as applied to medieval Arabic writings, but it widens the field of enquiry to include an especially popular and influential writer.
Perspectives
The material examined belongs in several perspectives and disciplines: medieval geography, travel writing, literature and religious thought, and the wider and growing field of "wonder".
Julia Bray
University of Oxford
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Reading “the exotic” and Organising the Production of Knowledge: al-Tanūkhī on Indians and Their Elephants, Asiatische Studien – Études Asiatiques, December 2017, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1515/asia-2017-0003.
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