Whilst postcolonial theory may be applied to Medieval Spanish ballads - particularly those

Transcription

1 Whilst postcolonial theory may be applied to Medieval Spanish ballads - particularly those which represent a Moorish viewpoint - the historical context of such ballads is not necessarily a 'true' colonial situation. This discrepancy is what allows us to test the limits of postcolonial theory, as by de-constructing common readings of two familiar fronterizo ballads, Mora Moraima and La pérdida de Antequera, one can subsequently apply a more historically "correct" postcolonial reading to them, proposing their Moorish narrators as hypothetically correct by observing the focalisation of the texts. This theoretical exercise thus forces us to re-consider the polemic and somewhat contradictory nature of postcolonial theory and its role within this corpus of Medieval Spanish texts. Medieval, ballads, postcolonial theory, fronterizo, spanish, moorish

2 Assess the applicability and usefulness of postcolonial theory to any two or more of the texts that you have studied. Postcolonial theory, according to Bhabha's definition, recognises unequal cultural representation in the texts following colonisation, and thus can be used to critically re-read these texts in light of the tropes of colonial discourse (1994c: 171). Through the application of postcolonial theory to the medieval Spanish ballads of Mora Moraima and La pérdida de Antequera two ballads whose narration adopts a Moorish viewpoint one can propose a hypothetical Moorish authorship of the texts by particularly examining the function of the gaze and the notion of mimicry. However, these readings are still problematic, and thus the nature of postcolonial theory must be considered in terms of the limitations of its applicability and to what extent it is historically representative of colonialism. Through the exemplification of these two ballads, this essay will explore both the functions and problems of postcolonial theory, and offer alternative readings that respond to certain theoretical features by highlighting their limits. Before considering alternative applications of postcolonial theory in Mora Moraima one must deconstruct the standard hegemonic reading of this fronterizo ballad, as proposed by critics such as Aguirre, in order to understand the self-other relationship most usually envisaged. According to Aguirre (1972), the ballad establishes the common postcolonial binarism of the good Christian and the bad Moor by resolving that, instead of Moraima being raped by the Christian man, she in fact seduced him and is conforming to the stereotype of a deceitful Moor by lying to shift the blame (44). Clearly, this reading exemplifies popular thought in medieval Spain towards the Moorish subject, and would have been used as cultural propaganda during the years of conflict (Wright 1991: 41), an ideological effort to inculcate animosity towards the Moors in order to promote their ousting from Spain. Whilst the narrator of this ballad appears to be Muslim, therefore, it can be understood as written 'ventriloquism', projecting Christian propaganda through a Moorish narrator, and thus any Moors who came into contact with this ballad, upon finding an identity created for themselves to which they do not conform, would feel alienated and potentially confrontational (Bhabha 1994a :110). By acknowledging colonial bias in this reading, one can begin to reconstruct Mora Moraima as if it were written by a Moor in order to evaluate aspects of postcolonial theory and their validity in understanding the ballad. Hypothetically assuming that Mora Moraima is an autobiographical ballad, on one level it is simply recounting the tale of an abused moor, but postcolonial theory reveals an understanding of the Moor's constructed identity and an attempt to subvert it, thus highlighting certain issues in the reading of such texts. Theoretically, it is possible that a scopic pivot has occurred in this ballad (Bhaba 1994a: 109), as Moraima has become aware of the perception of her as Other and wishes to distance herself from it; the ballad

3 would then be read as an attempt at mimicry to gain acceptance from Christians through the reformation of the Moorish Other (Bhaba 1994b: 122), thus inverting the pleasure-unpleasure dialectic which forms a basis for postcolonial theory (Bhabha 1994a: 100). In the first line, Moraima projects herself ontologically as a Moor, but coupling this with the verbal tense of era indicates that a change has occurred, attributed to the fact that she is no longer a Moorish Other as seen by Christians, the repetition of the phoneme mor- alluding to repeated articulation of forms of difference which had previously constructed the colonial subject (Bhabha 1994a: 96). The description Moraima gives of herself in line two whilst seen by Vasvári as initial words of erotic selfpraise (1999:93) and thus alluding to a sexualised Orientalist Other may, within this particular reading, be verbally highlighting her positive traits out of desperation, in an effort to break the negative stereotype of Moors by presenting them as more human-like and less degenerate (Bhabha 1994a: 101). Interestingly, the ballad then proceeds to re-construct the self-other relationship in terms of an immoral Christian, through examples such as por me engañar (l.4), but it is ambiguous to whether this is purely a reaction to being portrayed as the Other in the first place (and thus reversing it out of principle), or whether the Moor genuinely perceives the Christian in such a way. From this ambiguity, one can begin to see a fundamental problem in postcolonial theory, as its system of binary oppositions between the coloniser and the colonised do not account for a bipartisan understanding of the structure. That is to say, whilst most ballads within this period would define a Christian- Moor binary from a Christian perspective, it cannot be assumed that the Moors would automatically create a similar cultural binary in view of the Christian population, as we do not have a Moorish literary corpus similar to the Castilian ballads with which to ascertain this notion. This proves especially problematic within this particular reading of Mora Moraima, as on the one hand the text lends itself to a continuation of this self-other relationship, but on the other hand it promotes mimicry through Moraima s attempts at acculturation into Christendom. Logically, these two concepts should not co-exist in the same space as they display contrasting viewpoints; postcolonial theory, from the coloniser s perspective, dictates that the coloniser envisages the Other as a negative binary component to itself, and the colonised attempts mimicry in order to become racially empowered. This highlights how, within this ballad, a typical postcolonial binary structure cannot be employed as it simply contradicts itself, undermining the very central concept of the theory. This reading of the ballad goes on to exemplify this flaw through a reversal of mimicry in line 5, where the Christian speaks in perfect Arabic; drawing upon Fanon s theory that a person is more likely to become part of another culture based on his mastery of the language (1986: 18), it is infeasible to suggest that said Christian is mimicking the Moor as would be defined by postcolonial theory because it would be paradoxical for the

4 coloniser to strive for recognition amongst the population of degenerate types (Bhabha 1994a: 101) that he had created himself. A possible explanation would be the coloniser s fantasy to adopt the exotic characteristics of the colonised through reverse mimicry (Singh), but this would destabilise the cultural binary and thus weaken any future manifestations of the self-other relationship as the coloniser has assimilated the Other, becoming that which is being actively marginalised. The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that postcolonial theory itself is still rather Eurocentric, dictating rules for texts which are exclusively written from the perspective of the coloniser and not being fully applicable to the cultural production of the Other, and thus undermining what it sets out to achieve. Later in the ballad, although Aguirre argues that the opening of the door to the Christian is an action which would normally denote Moraima's lack of sexual morals as an archetypal Moor (1972: 44), Fanon's theory of the black woman's relationship with the white man could offer an alternative justification. According to Fanon (1986), given that a black woman cannot negrify a man due to her lower status as both a female and a darkskinned Other, she must bleach herself and become more white (44), therefore the opening of the door can be re-interpreted as a desperate attempt to assimilate a Christian identity by prostituting herself, using her sexuality as a tool to become 'white' by subjecting herself to a more powerful white Christian man without really wanting to do so, and possibly forgoing any moral convictions in order to achieve this status of the assimilated Christian. It must be noted, however, that this reading would focus on Moraima's despair which pushed her to carry out the action, rather than attributing prostitution to her as the deceitful Moorish Other, as would be a typical reading which exoticises Moraima's sexuality. Given that the self-other relationship depicted in Mora Moraima also falls within a gender binary division, it is ironic that Moraima relinquishes her sexual independence in an attempt to become racially empowered, as in doing so she simply replaces one form of marginalisation with another. This would, however, suggest that societal status is not solely cognate with race and that it can in fact be changed, an idea which undermines the strict racial binarism of postcolonial theory which tends to ignore other factors, most notably gender and sexuality, and it has been criticised by feminist theorists for this very reason (Deepika 2001: 204). La pérdida de Antequera, a ballad whose subject matter differs significantly from that of Mora Moraima, attempts to correct similar issues in postcolonial theory. Through the narration of a battle between Christians and Moors in which the latter is victorious, this ballad forces a reconsideration of the definitions of 'coloniser' and 'colonised' in postcolonial theory, as it proposes a reversal of the colonial binarism in which the Moors are portrayed as superior and the defeated Christians as weak. Because this ballad follows a very different

5 schema of racial representation to other fronterizo ballads, one must consider it within the wider context of medieval Spanish history to analyse this depiction. Given that the Moors originally invaded Spain in 711 AD, and were not completely ousted until 1492 AD, historically speaking they may be considered as the colonisers of Spain, as they occupied the country and imposed their culture. This, however factually correct, is not represented in many ballads, as Bhabha's definition of the colonized as a population of degenerate types (1994b: 101) is usually applied to the Moors, not the Christians, thus illustrating a fallacy in postcolonial theory itself. Such texts, which are interpreted as postcolonial but do not depict a true colonial situation, show once more that postcolonial theory in the context of medieval Spanish ballads lends itself to Eurocentric readings by not accurately representing the colonial situation in Spain, but rather they reverse it. However, hypothetically assuming that the ballad is written by a Moor, La pérdida de Antequera attempts to correct this by offering a counter-discourse which provides a more historically accurate depiction of the Moors' presence in Spain, and thus subverting the self-other relationship in cultural production created by the Christian population, reconstructing it in to invoke the cultural memory of the marginalised Moorish population of the original conquest. In doing so, this ballad returns the gaze onto the Christians (Bhabha 1994a: 116), threatening their position of superiority as shown in other ballads by reminding them of past struggle and defeat during the Muslim conquista. A further analysis of this ballad on the assumption of Moorish authorship shows a certain degree of acceptance towards the Christians, which is a fundamental difference from the very one-sided nature of fronterizo ballads. For example, the Moors gran fiesta hacen (l.3) to celebrate the Christian festival of la mañana de San Juan (l.1), which indicates a sense of tolerance of the Christian religion, known as la convivencia, despite the usual depiction of complete racial and religious opposition; historically, there was a degree of la convivencia in medieval Spain due to a body of common ideas shared between religions, but this is often overlooked in Spanish ballads, possibly as an ideological effort to promote the reconquista. Furthermore, the general tone of the ballad is peaceful and non-threatening until the Moors are provoked by a Christian attack (l.19), and even at this point, the lexis remains somewhat neutral, describing the battle succinctly, and not projecting negative traits onto the Christians apart from the factual mas llevaban orden mala (l.42). One can deduce from this, therefore, that an exact binarism between coloniser and colonised rejects any notion of relative historical peace in order to create a simple, racially normalised opposition from which one defines them self; given that a text from a Moorish viewpoint is able to express the convivencia, whereas postcolonial theory relies rigidly on this binarism to analyse Christian ballads, it is clear that the theory is not applicable to texts written by

6 the so-called colonised population. In conclusion, whilst postcolonial theory provides a framework in which to place many medieval Spanish ballads, it limits itself by still being Eurocentric in nature and not accommodating the possibility of the viewpoint of the 'colonised' party in the narratives of the 'coloniser', ironically undermining Bhabha's definition of its purpose to critically understand the 'colonised' population in such texts (1994c: 171). Because of this, it is more suitably applied to texts which are written solely by the 'coloniser' in a true colonial situation, not like that of medieval Spain, to produce the most unambiguous and contingent interpretations. Word count: 2,093 Bibliography: Aguirre, J. M. (1972), 'Moraima y el prisionero: ensayo de interpretación' in N. D. Shergold (ed) Studies of the Spanish and Portuguese Ballad, London: Tamesis & University of Wales Press, pp Bahri, Deepika (2004), 'Feminism in/and Postcolonialism' in Neil Lazarus (ed), Postcolonial Literary Studies, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp Bhabha, Homi K. (1994a), 'The Other Question: Stereotype, Discrimination, and the Discourse of Colonialism', in The Location of Culture, London: Routeledge., (1994b), 'Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse', in The Location of Culture, London: Routeledge., (1994c), 'The postcolonial and the postmodern: The question of agency', in The Location of Culture, London: Routeledge. Fanon, Frantz (1986), Black Skin, White Masks, London: Pluto Press. Singh, Amardeep, ' Mimicry and Hybridity in Plain English'. The Valve: a literary organ. (accessed 13 November 2012). Wright, Roger (1991), 'Fronterizo Ballads', in Spanish Ballads, Critical Guides to Spanish Texts, 52, London: Grant & Cutler. Vasvári, Louise O (1999), The Hetrotextual Body of the 'Mora Morilla', London: Department of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary and Westfield College.