Ramos, Eduardo. "Sins of the Father: Academic Complicity in Racist Medievalisms." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/academic-complicity-in-racist-medievalisms. [Date accessed].
Academic complicity in racist medievalisms
Examining whiteness in medievalism and its connection to medieval studies.
Sins of the Father: Academic Complicity in Racist Medievalisms | Watch the full talk
Presented by Eduardo Ramos at Appropriations: A RaceB4Race Symposium in 2020
Eduardo Ramos examines whiteness in medievalism and its connection to medieval studies. He discusses how academia’s early nationalistic, and at times overtly imperial, interests suppressed evidence of diversity during the Middle Ages to construct a homogenous white Europe that informs popular medievalism like The Lord of the Rings (1954-55). Furthermore, by presenting texts like Beowulf (pre-11th century) and Vǫlsunga saga (13th century) as some sort of white heritage, early scholars and translators facilitated the appropriation of medieval Germanic symbols by white nationalist movements. Scholars in the field today have a responsibility to address these “sins” of their academic forefathers.
Further learning
Recommended
Blackness and Shakespeare's sonnets
Shakespeare’s works at large, and early modern literature more broadly, all deal with constructions of race. Shakespeare’s sonnets are especially fruitful for considering how the languages of fairness and darkness are used in nuanced ways to develop particular understandings of race.
