Ar-rā’s al-maqṭūʽ fī aṭ-ṭuqūs wa-l-ḥikāyāt al-ṣiqilliyya wa-fī al-iḥtifālāt al-shaʽbiyya fī shamāl Ifrīqiyā” [La testa mozza nei riti e racconti popolari siciliani e del Nord Africa]

With a view of the Mediterranean cultural cohesion, the methodological framework of this comparative/ethnopoetics-grounded research gathers anthropological sources on the North African/Sicilian area and the related folk literary studies so as to argue the epistemological value of the symbol of the “severed head” as it cross-temporally appears/evolves within these two linked cultural heritages. Moreover, my paper argues how both Italian Renaissance literature and hagiographic sources on the Muslim martyr Ḥussein, drew upon the iconic role of the “severed head” as the examples of Giovanni Boccaccio and ʽAbd Allah ar-Rifāʽī could show