Nazhun al-Garnatiya bint al-Qulai is one of the most gifted and well-known Twelfth-century Andalusian poetesses. She masters various genres of Arabic poetry such as Madeh (praise), Wasf (description), Fakhr (pride), Ghazal (courtship/love) and Hija' (satire). Although little of her work survives, she is most read as a poetess of hija' (satire) due to her unquestionable poetic ability to duel verbally through invective prose and verse, and due to her ability to suppress her male counterparts with her powerful poetry. Hegel in his The Phenomenology of Spirit introduces the idea of “master-slave dialectic”, which deals with the concept of self-consciousness and the way it is formed through meeting the other. The master is the one in the interaction who succeeds in obtaining recognition from the other in the sense that he imposes himself as the slave's value. The slave is the one who sees his true self in the other (master). There is also the connection between the Hegelian “master and slave dialectic” and Lacanian “theory of subjectivity”, for, Lacan also focuses on the subject’s “desire for recognition” as a necessary component of its sense of subjectivity. The paper argues that Nazhun’s hija' represents her “desire” of seeking recognition from her male counterparts who act out the role of the other. While such desires for recognition recur the overturns presented in Hegel’s “master and slave dialectic”, they also echo the Lacanian theory related to the expression of desire through language (poetry) as a form of seeking recognition from the other. Nazhun’s hija' is a product of maintaining self-recognition and a means of attaining mastery in the discourse to overpower the other by reflecting his true self through her words. Nazhun’s poetry, especially her invective exchanges with Abu Bakr al-Makhzumi, showcases individualism and empowerment which make it open to multiple readings and interpretations. The polemic hija' she nuanced in particular is subjected to different interpretations depending on what purposes and by which motives. Therefore, this paper offers a new reading through the concept of mastery and self-recognition between genders in Nazhun’s poems as an approach to reading her poems. The new reading suggests the idea of Mastery and Servitude as an interpretation of the female poetic mastery towards self-recognition and subjectivity in Nazhun’s hija', taking mainly the Hegelian “Master and Slave Dialectic” as its fundamental framework, and highlighting the equivocal nature of bonding and the shifting power positions with her male counterparts.