Crossing Borders: ʿĀʾisha al-Bāʿūniyya and Her Travels

Abstract

Arabic scholarship and literature flourished during the Mamlūk period, and scholars and students from across the Muslim world were drawn to Cairo and Damascus. This led to opportunities for travel, education, and employment, yet these opportunities were available almost exclusively to men. In Syria and Egypt, and most of the medieval world, women’s involvement in travel, education, and public life, was often restricted. However, there were exceptions, including the prolific writer and poet ʿĀʾisha al-Bāʿūniyya (d. 1517). As a woman, she crossed a number of social and cultural borders in order to enter into the domain of religious scholarship and literary production. Drawing from historical and biographical sources, and especially from ʿĀʾisha al-Bāʿūniyya’s writings, I examine her social and intellectual background, her travels and scholarly interactions in order to highlight some of the social trends and intellectual forces at work in the late Mamlūk period.