essay3rd

Olivia Fisher
Intermediate Comp
Rough Draft Essay 3
April 19th, 2015

Historians: A Discourse Community

Section One: Introduction
In 711, the Islamic people captured and took over the Iberian Peninsula, a geographic area known today as Spain. Their kingdom, Al-Andalus was prevalent in Spain until 1492 when the Catholic rulers Ferdinand and Isabella expelled them from the country. Islamic rule left a vivid mark on Spain, influencing many aspects of the country, including its culture.  According to Merriam-Webster, culture itself can be defined as “the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time.” Culture is not simply the way people dress or the language they speak. For example, Spanish Culture is a compilation of everything from the different types of religious influences to the food on the people’s plates. The Islamic culture brought many things to Spain from a new language and religion to new foods and a new understanding of the world. All of these things left a lasting impact that can still be seen in throughout the country today.
	Understanding the influence of the Islamic people on Spanish culture is an important factor in understanding Spanish history. There are many historians who have dedicated their careers to uncovering and recording the country’s history. This discourse community, or group of people with a common goal and way of communicating, has unearthed many facts that record and explain the significance of Islamic influence on Spanish culture. Historians, according to Merriam-Webster, can be defined as, “an expert of history, especially that of a particular, period, region, or social phenomenon.” For example, Spanish History historians focus specifically on past events related to the Spanish world. Historians not only discover new facts about the past, but as a discourse community, they use their specific method of communicating in order to report their findings to each other and the public to aid in creating a better understanding of past events and civilizations. As a Spanish Major, I have always been interested in the origins and the culture behind the language that I am studying. Historians play a major role in providing a bridge between the past and the present that makes understanding how Islamic influence has impacted Spanish culture and in turn, its language.

Section Two: Thesis
Through genres such as scholarly journals and anthologies, specialized language, and visual evidence, historians relay the information they find with each other as they discuss topics such as the Islamic influence on Spanish architecture, agriculture, and language. The mainstream media then dissects the information released by the historians and reports it to the general public in the form of news reports, articles, and documentaries.

Section Three: Discourse Analysis
	Historians discuss many different distinct impacts left from Islamic rule on Spanish culture. One commonly discussed influence that the Islamic people brought to Spain was the influence on Spanish architecture. The style of architecture derived from Islamic influence in Spain is known as mudéjar and can be identified through its use of nature as a motif, geometric, and repeating patterns, and use of the horseshoe shaped arch. When discussing architecture, whether it be in any of the preferred genres of historian discourse (a scholarly journals, scholarly websites, book publications, anthologies) historians focus on the idea of historical importance, meaning that they choose to report on facts such as what buildings were built, what purpose the buildings held, what they looked like, and their historical significance. For example, one important building that exemplifies mudéjar styled architecture is the Alhambra located in Granada, Spain. For historians, the Alhambra is an important topic of discussion because, not only was it built as a palace for the Islamic rulers, but it also has been used throughout history and remains standing today as an example of Islamic presence in Spain.
	Language and tone is important to the historian discourse community. For historians, it is important to publish texts that will be seen as credible so that the information that they are reporting will be taken seriously by their peers and reach researchers who are studying their topic. For this reason, documents written by and between historians are formal, factual, and use concise, concrete language. This is true when discussing Islamic influence on Spanish architecture. In order to help their readers better understand Islamic architecture in Spain, historians implement descriptive or picturesque language to describe important features of this style of architecture. They also are sure to use unbiased language and balanced facts. Spain is a culturally Christian country; therefore the period of Islamic rule is not always viewed in a positive light. After the Islamic people were expelled from Spain, many of their buildings were destroyed or reused for Christian purposes (for example, the la mosquita (which translates to English as the mosque) in Cordoba, Spain, was reused by the Christians as a cathedral and today is referred to by some as the Cathedral of Cordoba). When reporting about the destruction and reuse of Islamic architecture, historian discourse remains mainly unbiased and balanced. The facts that they present are normally not slanted in a pro-Christian fashion or a pro-Islam fashion, but instead focus primarily on reporting what happened historically.
	Visuals are also important to the historian discourse community, specifically when reporting and recording information related to the Islamic influence on Spanish architecture. Historians often provide photographs of the specific buildings and architectural elements that they discuss within their discourse (such as the images I provided, the first of the Alhambra, and the second of the inside of la mosquita). The visuals fill the gap left by written text and allow for readers to know exactly what important buildings look like and therefore get an actual glimpse into the past.
	After historians report on Islamic influence on Spanish architecture, the media releases secondary sources discussing the information at hand. Often times, the media takes the information discovered and recorded by historians, and turns it into digestible resources for the common man. In regards to architecture, a newspaper reporter may use information gathered from texts released by the historian discourse community in order to explain common features of Islamic architecture while writing an article about interesting places to visit in Spain. A documentary film crew may use information gained from researching historian texts in order to feature relevant buildings in a documentary pertaining to Spain. This relationship between historians and the media is an important bridge for getting information from the experts to everyday people who may be interested Spanish culture and architecture.
	Another topic commonly discussed by historians is the Islamic influence on agriculture in Spain. Historians have learned through studying accounts written at the time, that the Islamic people brought many new farming techniques to Spain such as improvements to irrigation as well as new fertilizing techniques. Historians also often discuss the new produce and plants brought to Spain by the Islamic people. They introduced many new plants such as rice, sugar cane, artichokes, grapefruits, oranges, and carrots as well as spices such as saffron. They also brought a better understanding of planting processes and methods of fighting agricultural disease.
	When discussing agriculture, Historians mainly focus on the impacts of advancements made by the Islamic people in Spain. For example, they often discuss how improvement to the Spanish irrigation system led to the ability to cultivate new plants such as rice. Rice is a staple food for Spain, and is a main ingredient along with the spice, saffron (another product introduced by the Islamic people) in the iconic Spanish dish, paella. Historians choose to report on facts about Islamic influence on agriculture that are relevant to the development of Spanish culture into what it is today.
Once again, when discussing agriculture, whether it be in any of the commonly used genres of the historian discourse community, historians use language to establish credibility. The tone is very factual and they choose facts to inform rather than entertain. Although the language, specifically when referring to specific agricultural processes, is dense and sometimes difficult for the common reader to follow, it can be counted on to thoroughly and concisely explain the techniques and why they are important to modern day Spain.
Like the topic of Islamic influence on architecture of Spain, the media uses historian texts to create secondary sources pertaining to Islamic influence on Spanish agriculture.  Often times, news reporters use the information discovered and recorded by the historian discourse community as research for background information in their news reports and articles. This allows them to deliver the history of Spain to the average person in a easy to digest way. Specifically pertaining to Islamic influence on agriculture, authors may write cookbooks that include recipes for Spanish dishes that use ingredients introduced to Spain by the Islamic people. Sometimes such books include a background on the dish, in which case, the author of the book would need to refer to documents written by the historian discourse community in order to find substantial research on the topic. All in all, the media helps to distribute the information gained by the historian discourse community to a wider audience.
Lastly, and most importantly to me as a Spanish language major, Historians often discuss the Islamic influence on the Spanish language. Since Islamic rule lasted for nearly eight hundred years, it is no surprise that Arabic, the language spoken by the Islamic people, found its way into the Spanish language. In fact, over 4,000 words and Arabic phrases have been absorbed into the Spanish language. Most of the Spanish words derived from Arabic are nouns and place names, this is important to the historian discourse community, because it helps them to understand what things were possibly introduced to Spain by the Islamic people as well as a look into which cities were historically important to Islamic rule.
Historians are not necessarily linguists, however, the Islamic impact on the Spanish language is important from a historical perspective. Many historians write about the Islamic contributions to Spanish in the contexts of how their presence influenced Spain’s cultural identity. Understanding the origin of words helps Historians to better understand the background of the time in which the words began surfacing in the language. It also helps to better understand the origins of plants, animals, foods, and daily items. For examples, many of the words for the food items brought to Spain by the Islamic people have Spanish names derived from Arabic words. As we discusses, rice is an important product brought to Spain by the Islamic people. The word for rice in Spanish “arroz” comes from the Arabic “āruz(z) / aruz(z).”
Like the other popularly discussed topics pertaining to Islamic influence on Spanish culture, when examining the influence on the Spanish language, the historian discourse community is focused on credibility. They often use direct examples of words by translating them to both Spanish and Arabic in order to provide the evidence of their relation. Since the historian discourse community focuses on how the Islamic influence has lasting effects historically, when dealing with the impact of language, they normally provide facts that record the implication of language in historical context instead of talking about how the languages are related from a linguistic standpoint. Historians use genres such as scholarly articles, scholarly websites, textbooks, and anthologies to report and publish their findings. In my experience, most of the historical information that I have found on the topic of Islamic influence on the Spanish language was found in textbooks I used in classes covering Spanish culture. These texts, although sometimes dense, provided clear, historical facts presented in an unbiased fashion.
As previously discussed, the media, including journalists, news reporters, authors and film makers, take the information discovered and published by the historian discourse community and translate it into digestible information for the public. Unlike the historian discourse community however, nowadays, the media often focuses on providing information that is entertaining rather than strictly educational or informational. This means that sometimes the facts aren’t provided in the truest form or include dramatizations. However, the media still plays and important role in delivering topics and information from the historian discourse community to a new community of people, allowing for the transfer and sharing of knowledge.
As you can see, through the use of genres such as textbooks, anthologies, scholarly websites and journals, historians publish their findings on topics such as the Islamic influence on Spanish culture. While focusing on topics such as architecture, agriculture, and language, historians use balanced, unbiased facts, visual evidence, concrete and picturesque words, and a formal tone in order to report on their discoveries. All of these things are important in establishing credibility that allows the information uncovered by the historian discourse community to reach other historians and researchers. The media then takes the information and uses it to produce articles, documentaries, news reports, websites, and books that help to further spread the information to a greater audience.