Amphibious storytellers in Leo Africanus and The Moor’s Account

This article discusses the traces of two Early Modern Arab figures dramatized in The Moor’s Account (2014) by Laila Lalami and Leo Africanus (1992) Amin Maalouf. Marginality, nomadism, humanism are lives Mustafa Al-Zammouri/Estebanico a black from Zammour taken as slave sold to Spanish conquistador who joined Narváez Expedition Africanus/Alhassan Alwazzan was captured pirates sent gift Pope X (1475–1521) around same time. those travelers provide flesh for bicultural that avoids jingoistic nationalism is centered ideas canon excludes narratives texts “the other world.” Bicultural humanism, I argue, unique space where both Maalouf exercise their talent recovering silenced doing so, challenge Orientalist stereotypes creating dynamic Arabs Muslims complex nomad characters not essentialized violent multitudes enraged at Western modernity.