CONGRESS CANCELED Feminist Critical Methodologies for the Early Middle Ages (A Roundtable)

Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

Description

In the 1980s and ‘90s, trailblazing scholars such as Helen Damico, Alexandra Hennessey Olsen, Clare Lees, and Gillian Overing laid vital groundwork for feminist scholarship of early medieval England. But like much critical theory, feminist approaches have struggled to maintain a solid toehold in a field historically resistant to such scholarship. Since 2016, A Feminist Renaissance in Anglo-Saxon Studies has, as a scholarly collective, been working to revitalize feminist methodologies as well as bring together scholars who are exploring the utility of these methodologies for early medieval scholarship.

This roundtable, sponsored by A Feminist Renaissance in Early English Medieval Studies, features 5 brief presentations of projects that use feminist readings to start new conversations with and among early medieval texts, objects, and cultures. We are especially interested in scholarship that broadens the traditional scope of studies of early medieval England, and perhaps helps us to leave the term "Anglo-Saxon" behind, by recognizing the geographic and cultural connectedness of the early medieval world.

Rebecca Straple

 
May 7th, 10:00 AM

CONGRESS CANCELED Feminist Critical Methodologies for the Early Middle Ages (A Roundtable)

Fetzer 2016

In the 1980s and ‘90s, trailblazing scholars such as Helen Damico, Alexandra Hennessey Olsen, Clare Lees, and Gillian Overing laid vital groundwork for feminist scholarship of early medieval England. But like much critical theory, feminist approaches have struggled to maintain a solid toehold in a field historically resistant to such scholarship. Since 2016, A Feminist Renaissance in Anglo-Saxon Studies has, as a scholarly collective, been working to revitalize feminist methodologies as well as bring together scholars who are exploring the utility of these methodologies for early medieval scholarship.

This roundtable, sponsored by A Feminist Renaissance in Early English Medieval Studies, features 5 brief presentations of projects that use feminist readings to start new conversations with and among early medieval texts, objects, and cultures. We are especially interested in scholarship that broadens the traditional scope of studies of early medieval England, and perhaps helps us to leave the term "Anglo-Saxon" behind, by recognizing the geographic and cultural connectedness of the early medieval world.

Rebecca Straple