by JONATHAN HSY
My #MLA17 "hot take" for medievalists: we all have to STEP UP.
Look at what the professional organizations and most prestigious journals in earlier historical periods are doing. The Society for Classical Studies has a leadership statement against racism and its major conference featured a politically urgent plenary (had to be delivered by proxy) by a prominent scholar who is also an undocumented immigrant; the most recent issue of Shakespeare Quarterly addresses early modern race and Shakespeare reception with essays by ethnic minority academics; the Shakespeare Association of America has an annual social for Scholars of Color (and allies).* We as a discipline and a community need to unambiguously stand up against white nationalism and the abuse of the past -- especially in a field that fuels racist fantasies. Medieval studies is not just about the past; it must build a better future.
*Note also a AIA-SCS session on immigration (organized by the Committee on the Status of Women and Minority Groups) and Affiliated group for Classics and Social Justice with a CFP for 2018; the linked SAA program schedule features among other things a plenary on the "Color of Membership" but the SOC social is not yet listed.
For an AFFIRMING thread broadcasting the many things we ARE doing in medieval studies (rather than just calling out what we "oppose"), check out this public thread at BABEL Futures.
Any other efforts, schemes, affirmations, hortatory speeches, or news you'd like to share? Add to the comment thread below (it's moderated, so please be patient!)
Showing posts with label #femfog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #femfog. Show all posts
Saturday, January 14, 2017
Friday, July 08, 2016
Pre NCS London 2016: Things To Do + Events
by JONATHAN HSY
The International Medieval Congress in Leeds has just concluded, and the New Chaucer Society Congress in London is approaching!
Here's a quick post with a few items of note ahead of NCS (ITM readers will surely notice that many of these items are responding directly to current events and geopolitics).
The #femfog roundtable at the IMC in Leeds was an animated and productive venue that explored strategies for building a more inclusive and ethical medieval studies. Such conversations are sure to continue at NCS, whether through official sessions or informal venues. Fore more on the Leeds session:
Topical reading list for medievalists. See Jeffrey's list of "reading for sustenance" (compiled on 2 July) including Brexit- and femfog-related items by medievalists. See also my posting on refuge and welcome (20 June), and two new items published yesterday (7 July):
Things to do in London before NCS:
 |
| Bedside reading: guide to Pride in London (festivities just ended in June). Patience Agbabi's Telling Tales, Lavinia Greenlaw's A Double Sorrow. |
The International Medieval Congress in Leeds has just concluded, and the New Chaucer Society Congress in London is approaching!
Here's a quick post with a few items of note ahead of NCS (ITM readers will surely notice that many of these items are responding directly to current events and geopolitics).
The #femfog roundtable at the IMC in Leeds was an animated and productive venue that explored strategies for building a more inclusive and ethical medieval studies. Such conversations are sure to continue at NCS, whether through official sessions or informal venues. Fore more on the Leeds session:
- Check out this archive of tweets compiled by Shyama Rajendran.
- The Mittelalter bloggers have provided timely summaries of many IMC sessions (some in German, some in English), with a femfog session summary (in English) at the end of this post.
Topical reading list for medievalists. See Jeffrey's list of "reading for sustenance" (compiled on 2 July) including Brexit- and femfog-related items by medievalists. See also my posting on refuge and welcome (20 June), and two new items published yesterday (7 July):
- Simon Gaunt (King's College London) on “Europe” as an idea in the Middle Ages, on the Values of French project blog.
- Howard Hotson (Oxford) on medieval universities as institutions beyond nation-states, at the Times Higher Education.
- Chaucer's London Today. A guide to site of interest to Chaucerians around London (document posted by Lawrence Warner).
- The Refugee Tales. Walk and events conclude today (Friday).
- Protest march in Brixton. For people following ongoing developments in the US, consider this rally to be held in solidarity with victims of police brutality (Saturday).
Events associated with NCS:
- Queers & Allies. Informal social gathering for queer (LGBTQ+) medievalists and allies. Tuesday (12 July) starting 9pm at the Royal Oak (at 73 Columbia Road; this is about a 30 minute walk or 2 minutes by taxi from Queen Mary). [h/t to Anthony Bale and to the #QueerMSS crowd especially Diane Watt and Roberta Magnani]
- Safe(r) Spaces Conversation (moderated by Helen Young). “A Pilgrimage to Safe(r) Spaces: Classroom Crossroads of Identity,” Thursday (14 July) at 9-10:30am, Bancroft 1.13a. This event was created to center crip/queer experiences (e.g., issues relating to disability and sexuality), but will no doubt expand to incorporate many other identities.
Some events of note on the NCS program(me):
- The “Corporealities” thread explores facets of identity and experience in the medieval past and the present; note the highly topical "Pale Faces" session interrogating whiteness and medieval studies (Monday 11 July, 2pm, Arts 2 Lecture Theatre).
- Global Chaucers roundtable exploring translation, adaptation, and comparative literary approaches: "Translating Global Chaucers" (Wednesday 13 July at 9-10:30pm in PP1).
- Readings by neo-Chaucerian poets Lavinia Greenlaw (Tuesday 12 July at 5:30pm, People's Place Theatre) and Patience Agbabi (Wednesday 13 July at 8pm, Arts 2 Lecture Theatre).* [note also Jeffrey's post on other events that night]
*A brief blurb for the Patience Agbabi reading (not in the online version of NCS program):
Patience Agbabi is former Poet Laureate of Canterbury. Telling Tales (Canongate, 2014), in which she disperses Chaucerian narratives in present-day multiethnic London, was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. Her work appears also in the anthology The Refugee Tales (Comma Press, 2016). She will deliver an interactive reading “Herkne and Rede” that explores poetry performance as dynamic adaptation.
Monday, July 04, 2016
IMC Leeds 2016: Brexit and femfog convos
 |
| Info on the new #femfog session as printed in the addenda/corrigenda for IMC Leeds 2016. Click to enlarge (full info provided below in this post as well). |
[Note: UPDATED July 6 with contextual #femfog links, at the end of this post]
Happy Independence Day to readers in the US! For some timely readings on this day (directly related to Brexit and femfog conversations), see this excellent reading list of medievalist perspectives compiled by Jeffrey.
The International Medieval Congress in Leeds (twitter hashtag #IMC2016) is about to begin!
A reminder for two timely items not listed in the printed program:
Tuesday 5 July 2016: Informal Post-Brexit Chat (6pm, Terrace Bar).
Kathryn Maude and Kate Weikert are hosting a chat on how to move forward post-Brexit. Meet at the Terrace Bar at 6pm. The hashtag for people who wish to follow these convos on twitter is #IMCAntiBrexit.
Wednesday 6 July 2016: Embracing the #femfog (1pm at Michael Sadler Building: Rupert Beckett Theatre).
Abstract: The misogynist invention 'of femfog' and the racist praise of medieval 'white men' had unintended positive consequences: an online surge of willingness to name and act against abuse and unethical behaviour in medieval studies, not just in Anglo-Saxon studies, not just against women. Continuing these discussions, we want to expose the structures that enabled and enable unethical behaviour in universities, and aim to make medieval studies more fully inclusive, collegial, and ethical. We want to explore ways of working against emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse, gate-keeping, exploitation, and bullying especially of students and younger scholars, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ablism, and misogyny in medieval studies, and affirm the openness, collegiality and inclusivity of our fields.
With David Bowe (Oxford), Liz Herbert McAvoy (Swansea University), Jonathan Hsy (George Washington University), Dorothy Kim (Vassar), Christina Lee (University of Nottingham), Robert Stanton (Boston College), Elaine Treharne (Stanford), and Helen Young (University of Sydney). Chaired by Diane Watt (University of Surrey).The hashtag for this convo will be, of course, #femfog. It's listed as Session 1198 so if you are doing any tweeting at IMC about this one, it's good to provide the session hashtag too (e.g., use #s1198).
This blog post at ITM has the full information for this #femfog session.
UPDATE July 6 - for reading directly relevant to #femfog convos, some links:
- 20 Jan 2016: CHE article about the #femfog with initial responses online
- 18 Jan 2016: ITM blog post on proactive steps after #femfog, with links to other responses
- 27 Jan 2016: ITM post on plagiarism and violation of trust -- and hope amidst despair
- 29 Jan 2016: A certain scholar interviewed by a floating dog
- 1 Feb 2016: Open letter to MAA, with link to its new diversity & academic freedom statement
- 27 Jun 2016: CHE update on #femfog and certain festschrift
- 30 Jun 2016: Essay by Jo Livingstone on toxic environments and tenure
Friday, June 24, 2016
Femfog at IMC Leeds 2016
by JONATHAN HSY
[UPDATED with location info and thanks to organizers]
Wow, I'm in Düsseldorf for the MLA "Other Europes" Symposium and we are all reeling from the #Brexit vote (no doubt more on that soon).
ANNOUNCEMENT:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed just published an article following up on the #femfog fallout and a festshrift for Frantzen. Read the PDF here.
On this note, there's a last-minute(ish) roundtable session at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds on "Embracing the #femfog" (date: Wednesday July 6 at 1pm; location: Michael Sadler Building: Rupert Beckett Theatre).
Title and abstract are also available at the IMC program link (since this is a last-minute addition to the schedule, you won't find this in the printed paper program).
Embracing the #femfog
Abstract: The misogynist invention 'of femfog' and the racist praise of medieval 'white men' had unintended positive consequences: an online surge of willingness to name and act against abuse and unethical behaviour in medieval studies, not just in Anglo-Saxon studies, not just against women. Continuing these discussions, we want to expose the structures that enabled and enable unethical behaviour in universities, and aim to make medieval studies more fully inclusive, collegial, and ethical. We want to explore ways of working against emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse, gate-keeping, exploitation, and bullying especially of students and younger scholars, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ablism, and misogyny in medieval studies, and affirm the openness, collegiality and inclusivity of our fields.
With David Bowe (Oxford), Liz Herbert McAvoy (Swansea University), Jonathan Hsy (George Washington University), Dorothy Kim (Vassar), Christina Lee (University of Nottingham), Robert Stanton (Boston College), Elaine Treharne (Stanford), and Helen Young (University of Sydney). Chaired by Diane Watt (University of Surrey).
THANKS to Bettina Bildhauer (St Andrews) for all her work organizing this session, and thanks to the IMC Programming Committee for finding a suitable venue for this event.
[UPDATED with location info and thanks to organizers]
Wow, I'm in Düsseldorf for the MLA "Other Europes" Symposium and we are all reeling from the #Brexit vote (no doubt more on that soon).
ANNOUNCEMENT:
The Chronicle of Higher Ed just published an article following up on the #femfog fallout and a festshrift for Frantzen. Read the PDF here.
On this note, there's a last-minute(ish) roundtable session at the International Medieval Congress at Leeds on "Embracing the #femfog" (date: Wednesday July 6 at 1pm; location: Michael Sadler Building: Rupert Beckett Theatre).
Title and abstract are also available at the IMC program link (since this is a last-minute addition to the schedule, you won't find this in the printed paper program).
Embracing the #femfog
Abstract: The misogynist invention 'of femfog' and the racist praise of medieval 'white men' had unintended positive consequences: an online surge of willingness to name and act against abuse and unethical behaviour in medieval studies, not just in Anglo-Saxon studies, not just against women. Continuing these discussions, we want to expose the structures that enabled and enable unethical behaviour in universities, and aim to make medieval studies more fully inclusive, collegial, and ethical. We want to explore ways of working against emotional, verbal, and sexual abuse, gate-keeping, exploitation, and bullying especially of students and younger scholars, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ablism, and misogyny in medieval studies, and affirm the openness, collegiality and inclusivity of our fields.
With David Bowe (Oxford), Liz Herbert McAvoy (Swansea University), Jonathan Hsy (George Washington University), Dorothy Kim (Vassar), Christina Lee (University of Nottingham), Robert Stanton (Boston College), Elaine Treharne (Stanford), and Helen Young (University of Sydney). Chaired by Diane Watt (University of Surrey).
THANKS to Bettina Bildhauer (St Andrews) for all her work organizing this session, and thanks to the IMC Programming Committee for finding a suitable venue for this event.
Friday, January 29, 2016
Call for Signatures: Letter of Concern to MAA
by SUZANNE CONKLIN AKBARI, JONATHAN HSY, EILEEN JOY, ALEX MUELLER
[UPDATED February 2016: In a swift response to this widely-circulated open letter, the Medieval Academy of America has announced and followed through on its decision to produce a statement on inclusion, diversity, and academic freedom (now on the top of its policies page). Since the MAA has taken initial action, the italicized passages no longer apply (i.e., no additional signatures are required). We hope this is just the beginning for renewed efforts to make medieval studies fully ethical and inclusive.]
Original posting dated January 29, 2016:
ITM readers and any other medievalists brought to this link through other means:
Please read this Open Letter of Concern addressed to the Medieval Academy of America (click to this link to access the PDF with full updated list of signatories) discussing the "Allen Frantzen Affair" and its wider implications. This letter was authored by Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Jonathan Hsy, Eileen Joy, and Alex Mueller (listed in alphabetical order by surname).
If you wish to add your name to the growing list of people signing this letter, please click through to the public Facebook page and add your name in the comments section. Please let us know if you are an MAA member, lapsed member, or potential member (and your institutional affiliation, if any). You can even identify yourself as a FOM (Friend of Medievalists). All these signatories will be added to the letter and the full list will be conveyed to the MAA.
If for whatever reason you're not on social media or otherwise cannot access the Facebook comments page, you can add your name in the comments section below (please note the comments are moderated on this blog and it may take some time for each comment to appear). Alternatively, you can contact Eileen Joy with the subject heading "MAA Open Letter" to be added to the list.
We hope that by acting together in and across our various communities we can create a better future.
[UPDATED February 2016: In a swift response to this widely-circulated open letter, the Medieval Academy of America has announced and followed through on its decision to produce a statement on inclusion, diversity, and academic freedom (now on the top of its policies page). Since the MAA has taken initial action, the italicized passages no longer apply (i.e., no additional signatures are required). We hope this is just the beginning for renewed efforts to make medieval studies fully ethical and inclusive.]
Original posting dated January 29, 2016:
ITM readers and any other medievalists brought to this link through other means:
Please read this Open Letter of Concern addressed to the Medieval Academy of America (click to this link to access the PDF with full updated list of signatories) discussing the "Allen Frantzen Affair" and its wider implications. This letter was authored by Suzanne Conklin Akbari, Jonathan Hsy, Eileen Joy, and Alex Mueller (listed in alphabetical order by surname).
If you wish to add your name to the growing list of people signing this letter, please click through to the public Facebook page and add your name in the comments section. Please let us know if you are an MAA member, lapsed member, or potential member (and your institutional affiliation, if any). You can even identify yourself as a FOM (Friend of Medievalists). All these signatories will be added to the letter and the full list will be conveyed to the MAA.
If for whatever reason you're not on social media or otherwise cannot access the Facebook comments page, you can add your name in the comments section below (please note the comments are moderated on this blog and it may take some time for each comment to appear). Alternatively, you can contact Eileen Joy with the subject heading "MAA Open Letter" to be added to the list.
We hope that by acting together in and across our various communities we can create a better future.
Monday, January 18, 2016
#FemFog Medievalism: Lessons Learned
by JONATHAN HSY
Two ITM postings in one day! This posting began as a set of reflections on a public Facebook status update but I'm reposting it all here as a kind of archive (and it's especially appropriate for MLK Day). Brief context: medievalists were engaged in important conversations on social media this week in response to the discovery of distressingly anti-feminist blogs/blog postings by established medieval scholars. Here are some initial thoughts on where we might go from here.
[UPDATED January 28, 2016: For more context on #femfog conversations since this post was made, see Dorothy Kim's post on ITM, this curated archive of #femfog tweets by @OldBooksNewSci, and coverage in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Jezebel (and read our note of thanks to Dr. Zuckerberg and our own affirmation of values).]
What can we (medievalists) learn from Frantzen-gate and Fulton-gate, and what proactive steps can we make to change the field (and our world) for the better?
Some initial thoughts:
1. EVERYONE is implicated. Gay men can be mysogynist, and women can reaffirm patriarchy (and white hegemony). Retired profs can be toxic—and so can grad students. You can be disadvantaged in one way but also exert power/exclude in others. We all need to be aware and look out for each other (male, female, queer, white, nonwhite, nontenured, tenured—everyone).
2. KUDOS to courageous people. Thanks to Dorothy Kim for launching an extended private conversation on the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship Facebook page about enduring harmful scholarly (i.e. medievalist) fantasies of whiteness. I will give some credit to Rachel Fulton Brown (author of one of the blogs in question) for at least engaging with the criticism she is facing and making some efforts to understand. (Meanwhile the stridently masculinist Allen J. Frantzen did not engage any of his critics and un-friended people on Facebook after his viewpoints started circulating. #GYB)
3. INVITE unexpected voices into conversations. This applies to conference sessions, seminars, blogs, scholarly collections and journals. Nominate many kinds of people to your leadership structures, advisory groups, editorial boards, conference organizing groups. (On that note, check out this GREAT wide-ranging slate of candidates for the BABEL Steering Committee. If you consider yourself a BABEL-er, vote by Friday!)
4. SUPPORT the work (scholarship and labor, physical and affective) of marginalized people in your social spheres. The meaning of “marginalized” or “minority” differs from context to context, but in any case build structures to support people who find themselves “outside the advantaged majority.” Do not amplify the voices of toxic people and do not help to advance the careers of people who are jerks.
5. MORE DISCOURSE, not less. When toxic views are published, especially by established scholars who hold positions of power, we should all be willing to respond to such discourse with more of our own. The conversations this week were not just about “individuals” but their blogging as symptoms of much broader structural and cultural issues we need to address for the sake of our field and our society more broadly. I’m glad that men and women (such as Peter Buchanan and Carla Jardim) offered timely, thoughtful, and forceful blog posts in response to Frantzen. Both humor and earnest critique can be powerful weapons.
6. MORE ALLIES. We need more white people to address white supremacy and white fragility (thanks for instance to Monika Otter and Suzanne Edwards on the SFMS thread and thanks to Jeffrey Cohen for the strong response on twitter and through this posting here on ITM calling out Frantzen on his scholarly and public misogyny, and thanks to Karl Steel for his post on ITM earlier this morning). We need more men (gay/queer and straight) to speak out against misogyny. We need more white women to point out problems with mainstream feminism. Rhetoric “lands” differently depending on who is speaking, and at times allies can do really important work.
7. RECOGNIZE that there’s a lot of energy/time/labor involved in responding to and educating people whenever this sort of thing happens. It really should not just be the “usual suspects” chiming in when these sorts of things happen and having the burden of educating people. Senior scholars should be able to educate themselves.
8. EXAMINE your own behavior and practices. If you receive criticism for your rhetoric or behavior, think about how to meaningfully change how you do things in the future (this could apply to the classroom, conferences, personal interactions, online communication, etc.).
9. USE YOUR AWESOME POWERS for good. Make medieval studies (and the world) more open, aware, inclusive.
10. DECIDE today what you can do to transform the profession and the world. It might be scholarship, serving on a committee, organizing a conference, curating a conversation, mentoring a student/colleague. If we want medieval studies to thrive, then we are all in this together.
Two ITM postings in one day! This posting began as a set of reflections on a public Facebook status update but I'm reposting it all here as a kind of archive (and it's especially appropriate for MLK Day). Brief context: medievalists were engaged in important conversations on social media this week in response to the discovery of distressingly anti-feminist blogs/blog postings by established medieval scholars. Here are some initial thoughts on where we might go from here.
[UPDATED January 28, 2016: For more context on #femfog conversations since this post was made, see Dorothy Kim's post on ITM, this curated archive of #femfog tweets by @OldBooksNewSci, and coverage in the Chronicle of Higher Education and Jezebel (and read our note of thanks to Dr. Zuckerberg and our own affirmation of values).]
#FEMFOG MEDIEVALISM:
LESSONS LEARNED + PROACTIVE STEPS
What can we (medievalists) learn from Frantzen-gate and Fulton-gate, and what proactive steps can we make to change the field (and our world) for the better?
Some initial thoughts:
1. EVERYONE is implicated. Gay men can be mysogynist, and women can reaffirm patriarchy (and white hegemony). Retired profs can be toxic—and so can grad students. You can be disadvantaged in one way but also exert power/exclude in others. We all need to be aware and look out for each other (male, female, queer, white, nonwhite, nontenured, tenured—everyone).
2. KUDOS to courageous people. Thanks to Dorothy Kim for launching an extended private conversation on the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship Facebook page about enduring harmful scholarly (i.e. medievalist) fantasies of whiteness. I will give some credit to Rachel Fulton Brown (author of one of the blogs in question) for at least engaging with the criticism she is facing and making some efforts to understand. (Meanwhile the stridently masculinist Allen J. Frantzen did not engage any of his critics and un-friended people on Facebook after his viewpoints started circulating. #GYB)
3. INVITE unexpected voices into conversations. This applies to conference sessions, seminars, blogs, scholarly collections and journals. Nominate many kinds of people to your leadership structures, advisory groups, editorial boards, conference organizing groups. (On that note, check out this GREAT wide-ranging slate of candidates for the BABEL Steering Committee. If you consider yourself a BABEL-er, vote by Friday!)
4. SUPPORT the work (scholarship and labor, physical and affective) of marginalized people in your social spheres. The meaning of “marginalized” or “minority” differs from context to context, but in any case build structures to support people who find themselves “outside the advantaged majority.” Do not amplify the voices of toxic people and do not help to advance the careers of people who are jerks.
5. MORE DISCOURSE, not less. When toxic views are published, especially by established scholars who hold positions of power, we should all be willing to respond to such discourse with more of our own. The conversations this week were not just about “individuals” but their blogging as symptoms of much broader structural and cultural issues we need to address for the sake of our field and our society more broadly. I’m glad that men and women (such as Peter Buchanan and Carla Jardim) offered timely, thoughtful, and forceful blog posts in response to Frantzen. Both humor and earnest critique can be powerful weapons.
6. MORE ALLIES. We need more white people to address white supremacy and white fragility (thanks for instance to Monika Otter and Suzanne Edwards on the SFMS thread and thanks to Jeffrey Cohen for the strong response on twitter and through this posting here on ITM calling out Frantzen on his scholarly and public misogyny, and thanks to Karl Steel for his post on ITM earlier this morning). We need more men (gay/queer and straight) to speak out against misogyny. We need more white women to point out problems with mainstream feminism. Rhetoric “lands” differently depending on who is speaking, and at times allies can do really important work.
7. RECOGNIZE that there’s a lot of energy/time/labor involved in responding to and educating people whenever this sort of thing happens. It really should not just be the “usual suspects” chiming in when these sorts of things happen and having the burden of educating people. Senior scholars should be able to educate themselves.
8. EXAMINE your own behavior and practices. If you receive criticism for your rhetoric or behavior, think about how to meaningfully change how you do things in the future (this could apply to the classroom, conferences, personal interactions, online communication, etc.).
9. USE YOUR AWESOME POWERS for good. Make medieval studies (and the world) more open, aware, inclusive.
10. DECIDE today what you can do to transform the profession and the world. It might be scholarship, serving on a committee, organizing a conference, curating a conversation, mentoring a student/colleague. If we want medieval studies to thrive, then we are all in this together.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)