{"id":61,"date":"2026-05-06T20:05:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unicorn-castle.org\/medievalisms\/?page_id=61"},"modified":"2026-05-06T20:05:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T20:05:24","slug":"special-focus-race-racism-medievalism-and-the-middle-ages","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/unicorn-castle.org\/medievalisms\/contents\/medievalism-communities\/special-focus-race-racism-medievalism-and-the-middle-ages\/","title":{"rendered":"Special Focus\u2014Race, Racism, Medievalism and the Middle Ages"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Carol L. Robinson
\nKent State University<\/h6>\n
Previously Published\u00a0 as a
\n<\/em>TEAMS Medieval Featured Lesson<\/a>.<\/h6>\n
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(I made this image by merging two images that I found on the Web.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

This page has been built \u00a0to fuel constructive\u00a0<\/em>approaches \u00a0for teaching about, learnng, and fighting racism in medieval studies. Inspiration for the development of this lesson page comes from recent events in the academic world. \u00a0There is a rift growing among medieval scholars and scholars of medievalism, as the below materials demonstrate.\u00a0 For example, when this page first appeared on the TEAMS (Teaching Association for Medieval Studies) website, one scholar expressed anger over the above \u201cRacist-B-Gone\u201d image, stating that it was discriminatory and hateful toward white supremacists, who have a right to their beliefs (and shouldn\u2019t be questioned?). While this rift has been developing for quite some time, with periodic rumblings of small-scale quakes, in recent years, these rumblings have grown louder, and in 2017 the quakes shook the very foundation of the academy, as the below letters and petitions attest. \u00a0Scholars who have questioned and fought against racist views and racist portrayals of medieval history and literature have risked and received both public and private attacks. \u00a0Such attacks have often been malicious and have ranged from being highly unprofessional to extremely personal (including\u00a0doxxing<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0trolling<\/a>), and these attacks have come from non-academic individuals, as well as fellow scholars who have reacted strongly against attempts at fighting racist thinking within the medieval academy.<\/p>\n

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Image found in random places on the Web. \u201cLoyal White Knights\u201d is the nickname for the Ku Klux Klan.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

More recently, entire universities have closed DEI centers and similar education support (including classes), as directed to do so by state and federal mandates. Whether or not medievalism is also associated with that is for you to determine.<\/p>\n

INVITATION:<\/strong>\u00a0If you would like to add to this page, or if anyone or anything is missing from this page, please contact me (clrobins@kent.edu<\/a>). At the end of this semester, it will be republished and made public. You will be given credit for your contribution.<\/p>\n

Contributors & Consultants (people who have made suggestions or shared information to the building of this page, in alphabetical order):<\/strong>\u00a0Pamela Clements, Jeffery J. Cohen, Jonathan Hsy, Eileen A. Fradenburg Joy, Dorothy Kim, Sierra Lomuto, Martha Oberle, Julie Orlemanski, Martin B. Shichtman, Gale Sigal, Deborah M. Sinnreich-Levi,\u00a0<\/strong>Richard Utz, and Helen Young.<\/p>\n

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Sources for Context<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Peripheral Information<\/strong><\/h3>\n