Miyashiro, Adam. "Comparative epics: Teaching El Cantar de Mio Cid." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/comparative-epics-teaching-el-cantar-de-mio-cid. [Date accessed].

Comparative epics: Teaching El Cantar de Mio Cid

Expanding and complicating the crusades rhetoric in medieval Europe.

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Adam Miyashiro
Stockton University

The 13th-century heroic narrative, El Poema de Mio Cid, was set in the culturally diverse landscape of the Iberian Peninsula. It takes place in the late 11th century, during the southward expansion of the Kingdom of Castile. When teaching The Cid, it is important to pay close attention to the differences in how Muslims are depicted in this poem, particularly in comparison to how they are represented in La Chanson de Roland. Students are asked: what work is the poem doing within its historical context? How is this text later used to develop a Spanish national identity?

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Teaching The Epic of Sunjata alongside La Chanson de Roland and El Poema de Mio Cid helps students decenter Euorpe and gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of the medieval world.

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Representations of Muslims in El Poema de Mio Cid

El Poema de Mio Cid, when taught contrapuntally with La Chanson de Roland and The Epic of Sunjata, reveals complex and layered representations of Muslims in the medieval Iberian Peninsula.

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