The major points that kept coming up were the homogenous whiteness of Anglo Saxon studies in particular, the racist/nationalist baggage of that name, and how we must decolonize our pedagogy AND our field and methods. Need more support for MOC.
-
-
Show this thread
-
Donna Beth Ellard showed that the term Anglo Saxonist becomes more popular during times of colonial activity, after British losses of empire, and after 9/11, suggesting it is a form of “colonial melancholy.” We must reckon with this as a field.
Show this thread -
@EduardoRamosii demonstrated how the Middle Ages have been white washed to justify and legitimate white supremacy. Also discussed racist incident he experienced at conference and popular misunderstanding of Vinland as an early state, not failed settlement.Show this thread -
Tiffany Beech laid out the two problems of AS studies: exterior popular misunderstandings and misuse of Middle Ages by white supremacists and the field’s internal whiteness and racism. Suggests that historicism often a way to avoid these discussions.
Show this thread -
@cmthomas asked a great question about practical approaches to tackling racism in our field and to retaining MOC, a question that I felt never got completely addressed and which is clearly vital to what we need to address as a field.Show this thread -
@dorothyk98 pointed out that we need to decolonize our pedagogy, meaning, we need to question the OE monolingual paradigm, consider how nationalism has infiltrated our teaching. Asked where Hebrew texts are in our Brit Lit surveys.Show this thread -
My notes aren’t as good for the later 1492 session but the discussions of race and persistent reminder that race does not mean skin color were vital.
Show this thread -
There was good and important pushback at the idea of Mandeville’s Travels as cosmopolitan or open to difference, as well as at the idea that race was always see as fluid in the Middle Ages.
Show this thread -
What I got from both sessions was an emphasis that we can’t simply assume white supremacists don’t read medieval texts or that we must just be more historically accurate. Such an emphasis often ignores how “correct history” is used to police people in field
Show this thread -
We also need to wrestle with the racism and racial politics of these texts, which may prefigure certain later formations.
Show this thread -
But our emphasis on combating white supremacist and popular misconceptions cannot overshadow our need to decolonize our field and address its racism and lack of support for MOC. How to address this must be answered. MOC need to be centered in these convos.
Show this thread -
@dorothyk98 has great live tweeting of both sessions which you should check out!Show this thread
End of conversation
New conversation -
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.