This article is a critique of the application of postcolonial theory to medieval texts. It focuses on two articles written by Israel Burshatin, 'The docile image: the Moor as a figure of force, subservience, and nobility in the Poema de mio Cid ' (1984), and 'The Moor in the text: metaphor emblem and silence ' (1985), that apply Edward Said's Orientalism to a reading of the Poema de mio Cid. The main argument is that there is a severe incompatibility between Said's theory and the society and culture of which El poema de mio Cid is a product. The author claims that Burshatin's articles fail to take into account a range of portrayals of Moors in the text, and severely misinterpret the role of the Cid's Moorish vassal Abengalbón.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.