The Middle Ages, What Does It Have to Do with Me? (A Roundtable)
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Material Collective
Organizer Name
Rachel Dressler; Maeve Doyle
Organizer Affiliation
Univ. at Albany; Eastern Connecticut State Univ.
Presider Name
Maeve Doyle
Paper Title 1
Medieval Identities in the Modern Classroom
Presenter 1 Name
Sarah Bromberg
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Lesley Univ.
Paper Title 2
Social Media as a Ground for Connecting Schools and Scholars
Presenter 2 Name
Lisa Gilbert
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Univ. of Missouri-Columbia
Paper Title 3
Discussant
Presenter 3 Name
Nahir I. Otaño Gracia
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Beloit College
Start Date
11-5-2019 3:30 PM
Session Location
Schneider 1360
Description
What does medieval art, culture, and history have to do with my life; what is the point of knowing this stuff? Immersed in the study of the Middle Ages as we are, we may lose sight of the fact that for many people the material to which we are passionately devoted holds little to no interest. It is our hope that this roundtable discussion can produce some strategies for countering this disengagement.
As we consider how to expand access to and engagement with the field, we invite consideration of the roles identity can play in both academic and popular engagement with Medieval Studies. From its antiquarian origins to today, the field has been shaped by nationalist identities, impulses, and agendas. In more recent decades, scholarly attention to gender, racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual identities has expanded and re-shaped the field and created opportunities for multiple identifications with the past. We also wish to question this paradigm: must engagement be structured by identity? Rachel Dressler
The Middle Ages, What Does It Have to Do with Me? (A Roundtable)
Schneider 1360
What does medieval art, culture, and history have to do with my life; what is the point of knowing this stuff? Immersed in the study of the Middle Ages as we are, we may lose sight of the fact that for many people the material to which we are passionately devoted holds little to no interest. It is our hope that this roundtable discussion can produce some strategies for countering this disengagement.
As we consider how to expand access to and engagement with the field, we invite consideration of the roles identity can play in both academic and popular engagement with Medieval Studies. From its antiquarian origins to today, the field has been shaped by nationalist identities, impulses, and agendas. In more recent decades, scholarly attention to gender, racial, ethnic, religious, and sexual identities has expanded and re-shaped the field and created opportunities for multiple identifications with the past. We also wish to question this paradigm: must engagement be structured by identity? Rachel Dressler