The Dragon(s) in the Room: Addressing the Modern Problems of Medieval Studies (A Roundtable)
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Lone Medievalist
Organizer Name
John P. Sexton
Organizer Affiliation
Bridgewater State Univ.
Presider Name
John P. Sexton
Paper Title 1
The Moral Obligation of Lone Medievalists
Presenter 1 Name
Kisha G. Tracy
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Fitchburg State Univ.
Paper Title 2
Neurodiversity and Medieval Literature in the Classroom
Presenter 2 Name
Jes Battis
Presenter 2 Affiliation
Univ. of Regina
Paper Title 3
Connecting the Middle Ages and Contemporary Popular Culture
Presenter 3 Name
Mathilde Pointière
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Louisiana State Univ.
Paper Title 4
Medieval Studies and the Internet
Presenter 4 Name
Samantha Knepper
Presenter 4 Affiliation
Independent Scholar
Paper Title 5
Disability Studies, the Medieval Text, and the Modern Classroom
Presenter 5 Name
Richard H. Godden
Presenter 5 Affiliation
Louisiana State Univ.
Paper Title 6
Begging for Relevance: Medieval Studies in the Modern World
Presenter 6 Name
Christine E. Kozikowski
Presenter 6 Affiliation
Univ. of the Bahamas
Start Date
10-5-2019 1:30 PM
Session Location
Fetzer 1040
Description
Medievalists must walk a tightrope when it comes to engagement with the modern world. On the one hand, we must argue for the significance of our subject within a higher education context increasingly driven by profitability models. On the other, we are called on to engage with or resist uncritical or inaccurate appropriations of the medieval world in the service of modern political or social agendas. We are in a bind, seeking opportunities to demonstrate our relevance in a positive and historically sensitive way while simultaneously deconstructing the ahistorical claims made for our discipline. As current events lead to the use and misuse of “the medieval” in the context of political agendas, torture, racial or cultural prejudices, and a host of other high-stakes public debates, the work of medieval studies must increasingly also be the work of public outreach and engagement.
As members of our field, medievalists are pressured to produce nuanced, “real-time” public scholarship responding to misappropriation of the medieval past. We must anticipate and address questions in our classrooms about the interplay of medieval and modern worldviews. We face the need to educate our colleagues, administrators, and communities about what the Middle Ages is and is not. We also must work to balance our public outreach with a sensitivity to the assumptions inherent in our own scholarly context, which must include an awareness of the historical privileging of specific cultures and canonical works. Lone Medievalists, who are usually the only experts on their subject in their department, university, institution, or community, must manage this balancing act with limited or no support from colleagues or employers. The stakes in these encounters are high, potentially shaping public perception of the medieval past. In addition, the political and economic pressures inherent in these encounters can impact institutional support for our work, teaching, and research.
John P. Sexton
The Dragon(s) in the Room: Addressing the Modern Problems of Medieval Studies (A Roundtable)
Fetzer 1040
Medievalists must walk a tightrope when it comes to engagement with the modern world. On the one hand, we must argue for the significance of our subject within a higher education context increasingly driven by profitability models. On the other, we are called on to engage with or resist uncritical or inaccurate appropriations of the medieval world in the service of modern political or social agendas. We are in a bind, seeking opportunities to demonstrate our relevance in a positive and historically sensitive way while simultaneously deconstructing the ahistorical claims made for our discipline. As current events lead to the use and misuse of “the medieval” in the context of political agendas, torture, racial or cultural prejudices, and a host of other high-stakes public debates, the work of medieval studies must increasingly also be the work of public outreach and engagement.
As members of our field, medievalists are pressured to produce nuanced, “real-time” public scholarship responding to misappropriation of the medieval past. We must anticipate and address questions in our classrooms about the interplay of medieval and modern worldviews. We face the need to educate our colleagues, administrators, and communities about what the Middle Ages is and is not. We also must work to balance our public outreach with a sensitivity to the assumptions inherent in our own scholarly context, which must include an awareness of the historical privileging of specific cultures and canonical works. Lone Medievalists, who are usually the only experts on their subject in their department, university, institution, or community, must manage this balancing act with limited or no support from colleagues or employers. The stakes in these encounters are high, potentially shaping public perception of the medieval past. In addition, the political and economic pressures inherent in these encounters can impact institutional support for our work, teaching, and research.
John P. Sexton