History and Poetics in the Late Medieval Muslim World: Contexualizing Rumi

The thirteenth century saw radical changes in politics, society and culture across the diverse Muslim world. Rumi
(d. 1273) lived through much of these tribulations and his poetry offers us a way to not only understand the contours of the changes the world was going through, but his own unique and inclusive thought which would remain a touchstone for centuries after. This talk explores some of the vectors in which power and self are reflected in Rumi’s poetry, then and now.