Public Humanities and the Future of Medieval Studies

It is the work of public humanities to question how we wield memories of the past for present ends. Through community-engaged teaching and learning, medievalists have the opportunity to pass on memories of the Middle Ages that move us toward social justice. We must begin by telling the dangerous memories of suffering that marked the millennium between 500 and 1500 C.E.: the expulsion of Jews from Christian kingdoms, Crusades against Islamic rulers in the Holy Land, and other instances of violence against religious and ethnic minorities. However, violence is not the whole story. At different times and places during these 1000 years, people of different religions and cultures lived peaceably side by side. Jews and Christians in Islamic Spain shared new learnings from Greek and Arabic writings on theology and philosophy. In the Levant, crusaders of diverse ethnicities farmed alongside their Muslim neighbors, not only tolerating the other’s religion but even appreciating their style of worship. Many Christians converted to Islam. Travel along trade and pilgrimage routes brought medieval people into contact with cultural others as they traversed commercial networks spanning from China through Syria and around the Mediterranean to North Africa and Europe. Migration compelled people to settle far from home, carrying their culture with them and adapting to their new circumstances. This is the more complicated story we need to tell.

A student studies a facsimile of the Catalan Atlas in the Medieval Institute library.

Through public humanities initiatives, medievalists can engage community partners in remembering a messier, more complex Middle Ages and discovering the relevance of that memory to our messy and complex world today. At Notre Dame, the Medieval Institute is animating students and faculty to engage the wider community on campus and beyond. This fall we hosted Game Day events during which the community could learn from local artisans who practice historically informed crafts. We sponsored roundtables that put MI faculty fellows in conversation with scholars working on labor and religion to discuss issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic. This spring we are partnering with a local public high school to offer an elective history course on the global Middle Ages and participating in the public library’s hands-on science programming. These initiatives invite our community partners to think critically with us about popular (mis)conceptions of medieval culture, to challenge modern assumptions about the past, and to lift up the stories of marginated medieval peoples: women, laborers, and religious and ethnic minorities.

Mark Booth talks about training falcons for hunting at a Game Day event in September 2021.

It is challenging to envision ways of engaging a broad public in reimagining history and its meaning for us today. Nevertheless, I care about this work because the dangerous memories of the medieval past help me imagine – and hope for – a more just future. In the political theology of Johann Baptist Metz, the dangerous memory of Jesus Christ, executed by the state for challenging the power of empire, is subversive of the status quo and impels Christians to work for liberation. I perceive medieval art and literature to be full of similarly dangerous memories: of women who dared to write against the fearful and patriarchal theologies of their day, of poets who critiqued ecclesiastical abuses of money and power, of reformers who wanted all people to have access to sacred scripture in their mother tongue and who dreamed of “a poor church, for the poor.” Theirs are the stories I want to remember from the Middle Ages – stories that feel urgently relevant for our time, as dangerous then as they are now.

Annie Killian, Ph.D.
Public Humanities Postdoctoral Fellow
Medieval Institute
University of Notre Dame

Medieval Chicago is Getting its Own Site!

Announcing medievalchicago.com, a new project inspired by the former special series.

While in its developmental stages, Medieval Chicago’s potential to grow into its own project became rapidly apparent. The initial posts were so much fun to write, and what could be better than the opportunity to go on local pilgrimages to medieval(ish) sites? So, in lieu of this special series, I happily announce the creation of an entirely new website: medievalchicago.com. Keep an eye out for new content coming soon!

My original introductory post on “Medieval Chicago,” lays out the rationale behind this project. A lightly revised version along with new introductory material is now live on medievalchicago.com as well. An updated version of the original Water Tower article will also be appearing soon along with new articles currently in progress.

That said, readers should find material here for a wide range of historical interests. Anyone—residents, visitors, the curious-minded—interested in Chicago, the Middle Ages, art, architecture, manuscripts, and even local events might discover something new. Like many digital projects, this currently solo, ongoing work-in-progress will see periodic posts, rather than weekly. Nevertheless, I hope you take a moment to look at the photos and blog posts already there as well as future additions to the site as it evolves. I hope you enjoy exploring Medieval Chicago as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Karrie Fuller, PhD
University of Notre Dame

 

Featured Image: Design vector created by Rwdd_studios - Freepik.com

Blog Posts in the Graduate Classroom: Part 2, Pragmatic Considerations

Part 1 of this blog entry presented the rationale behind using the Medieval Studies Research Blog (MSRB) as a pedagogical tool. Part 2 dives into the practical side of graduate-level blog post assignments specifically tailored to the MSRB’s interdisciplinary mission.

Precedent has already been set for bringing the MSRB into the graduate classroom. In fact, the MSRB originally emerged out of Kathryn Kerby-Fulton’s manuscript studies course, and her students continue to contribute exceptional work. During the fall 2017 semester, for instance, Kerby-Fulton’s class, “Introduction to Medieval English Manuscript Studies,” worked on the following assignment, for which I recently gave a guest lecture on “How to Write a Successful Blog Post:”

Workshop Assignment: The Workshop Assignment will be the creation of a blog post of about 500 words. Dr. Karrie Fuller (Medieval Institute’s Medieval Studies Research Blog webmaster and Lecturer, St. Mary’s College) will explain the format for this, and both she and I will be happy to help as well to advise on content. It should be delivered on the workshop day; note that your oral presentation of your post should not exceed 5 - 10 minutes, not counting questions afterwards). This assignment is an excellent preparation for conference roundtables and panels.

When constructing a blog assignment for this site, the only restrictions are that the subject matter should somehow relate to the medieval period, and contributions should be written in a style appropriate to the academic blog. Otherwise, the possibilities remain wide open. As in the example just provided, many traditional forms of academic writing and oral presentation can be adapted to fit the blog format, whether as one component of a larger project, or on its own. There is also plenty of room for experimentation with multimedia, tone, creative responses to or reflection on course content. Furthermore, because the site’s interdisciplinary coverage reflects the full range of scholarly activity performed at Notre Dame, instructors from all disciplines should feel welcome to participate.

For additional support with these assignments, the Medieval Institute has recently approved a new classroom visit program. These visits are by no means required for instructors assigning blog posts for this site, but are available for anyone wanting a little extra help preparing students for the task. Visits consist of a twenty-minute guest lecture about how to put together a successful blog post and set it up on WordPress. The graduate students in attendance for my first class visit earlier this semester responded positively to the experience, and will know exactly what to expect when it comes time to prepare their work for publication. Anyone interested in scheduling a class visit can contact me directly (email address listed below).

Moreover, helping graduate students at an early stage of their training to see the benefits of contributing posts will, ideally, encourage them to continue submitting their work as they advance beyond coursework. Becoming a regular, or even an occasional contributor will be even more effective than publishing a single entry as it will demonstrate a more sustained involvement with a large-scale digital project. Because curating an online presence is now a necessity for scholars, this form of professionalization can help graduate students manage their online profiles, making them more memorable, as Battershill suggests, “It is a good idea, in other words, for each grad student to take the time to craft an online presence that is what they want it to be—that is, intentional, professional, and memorable. Students should know what comes up when search committees or journal editors Google their names, and ideally they should try to make sure that the search results on the first few pages include some indication of their academic work.”[1] This site’s university affiliation means that it will show up first in Google searches, and its short article format means that it will add new content to the CVs and publication lists already present on their academia.edu and LinkedIn pages. Contributions are also circulated via Twitter and Facebook to expand their online visibility.

Ultimately, using this site as the basis for course assignments benefits everybody involved. Students and instructors gain DH experience, the Medieval Institute continues to build a strong online research profile, and audiences outside the academy gain greater access to knowledge they would otherwise never receive.

For questions, posting schedules, or class visit sign-ups, feel free to contact me at kfuller2@alumni.nd.edu.

Karrie Fuller, Ph.D.
University of Notre Dame/St. Mary’s College

Update 5/4/18: Here is sample assignment that could be adapted easily for graduate students.

Select Bibliography of Introductions to DH and DH Pedagogy

Battershill, Claire and Shawna Ross. Using Digital Humanities in the Classroom: A Practical Introduction for Teachers, Lecturers, and Students. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017.

Burdick, Anne, Johanna Drucker, Peter Lunenfeld, Todd Presner, and Jeffrey Schnapp. Digital_Humanities. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.

Gardner, Eileen and Ronald G. Musto. The Digital Humanities: A Primer for Students and Scholars. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Gold, Matt K., and Lauren Klein, eds. Debates in Digital Humanities 2016. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2016.

Hirsch, Brett D., ed. Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles and Politics. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers, 2012.

Schreibman, Susan, Ray Siemans, and John Unsworth, eds. A New Companion to Digital Humanities. Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture. Chicester: Wiley Blackwell, 2016.

 

[1] Claire Battershill and Shawna Ross, Using Digital Humanities in the Classroom: A Practical Introduction for Teachers, Lecturers, and Students (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2017): 158-159.