Since the field is so white--and designed to be so white--it's up to white scholars to address this in various ways. Slide into social media threads & deflect attacks. Alert your students to what's happening. Challenge labels like "Anglo-Saxon." Have tough conversations.
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Folks can do this in ways that reflect abilities. Some will be exhausted by social media, but can stage conversations in the classroom. Some may feel unable to do this publicly (due to various pressures) but can engage w/it online. Some can influence admin. Do what you can.
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In diversifying syllabi, we can amplify excellent scholarship by POC who are drawing attention to this systemic racism. We can direct students to the attack video & other sources & have them analyze it. We can incorporate discussions of race in our medieval research.
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The excuse is, "well, I just study [X medieval thing] & race isn't my area." Here's the thing. Saying "race isn't my area" is the epitome of privilege. It's our issue. White scholars have to continually engage with the racism that actually drives so many literary periods.
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Sometimes you're exhausted during a 3 hour class on Beowulf & you just want to talk about the shiny Sutton Hoo helmet & not about racism bc you need to "keep them on track." But the track intersects w/racism & if you don't talk about it, those assumptions will crystallize.
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You may miss opportunities to talk about it--that's fine. You don't have to have a single anti-racist unit. Just keep coming back to it whenever you can. Dissect terms like "Anglo-Saxon" and "Anglo-Norman" and "Conquest." Use video games & comics & fantasy art as links.
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Keep in mind: students may have a better vocabulary for talking about race than their middle-aged white profs (*understatement*). They might not know how to talk about Old English. But they can talk about race, and you can help them make those connections across periods.
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LGBTQ2+ medievalists can also use the ISXX example to talk about systemic links between racism, sexism, homophobia& transphobia. As a queer person I did not feel welcome in medieval studies until I discovered great work by queer & trans medievalists. This can be an entry.
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I've started by replacing "Anglo-Saxon" w/"Early Medieval" & gently but firmly insisting upon it. Students grew up hearing "Anglo-Saxon" & often see it as neutral or assume it refers to "Saxon tribes." I try to gently reiterate that "Englisc"--no less fraught--was more common.
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We try to talk about how so many of these terms fail to hold medieval diversity. And how terms like "Canadian" and "English" are equally fraught. Many students will hold on to "Saxon" as habit, but we can get them to see how all nationalist terms are inherently racist.
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Many of us might only teach medieval lit in a survey. But there are still opportunities to present/challenge "myths about the middle ages." We can focus on medieval lit where racism becomes visible, or where race seems oddly absent, and talk about that. Have the talk early.
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Many medievalists have little/no opportunity to teach OE lit bc depts don't see it as necessary, which is another problem. When we can't teach the period, it becomes ossified in its essential racism. We also have to pressure admin to include diverse medieval offerings.
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Our colleagues often have very little experience w/this period. They might see it as too specialized or antiquated & out of touch. So it's our job to show them medieval studies *is* plugged into conversations about racism & that we need their help to talk about this as well.
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