{"id":7326,"date":"2021-02-05T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/?p=7326"},"modified":"2021-04-29T23:09:24","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T03:09:24","slug":"misappropriating-the-medieval-how-ignorant-nationalists-reify-whiteness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/manuscript-studies\/2021\/02\/05\/misappropriating-the-medieval-how-ignorant-nationalists-reify-whiteness\/","title":{"rendered":"Misappropriating the Medieval: How Ignorant Nationalists Reify Whiteness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Like other scholars<\/a> in the field, I recently wrote about the use of medieval symbolism<\/a> in the white nationalist<\/a> movement involved in the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, which focused on how they mobilize narratives of white supremacy<\/a> and an imaginary “pure white<\/a>” medieval period in European history to recruit members to their cause.

Then, to my horror, I recently discovered that indeed my own work has been appropriated by white nationalist rhetoric. My blog on Woden’s characterization as an ancestral chief in certain early medieval sources was both cited and misrepresented in the service of white supremacy in another blog titled “How \u2018Ignorant\u2019 Pagans Deified A Real-Life Wodan Into Their Ancestral Anglo-Saxon Warrior God \u2018Odin\u2019<\/a>.” This blog was initially published by the website ChristiansForTruth <\/a>(1\/20\/2021), later reappearing on European Union Times<\/a> (1\/22\/2021) and Ancient Patriarchs<\/a> (2\/5\/2021), and it promotes specifically Christian white nationalist propaganda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Woden surrounded by medieval English royal descendants in Corpus Christi College, Cambridge MS 66, p.69. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

My original blog, “Woden: Allfather of the English<\/a>,” was written in 2015, during the early years of my PhD studies at the University of Notre Dame, when I was much less sensitive (or aware) of the ways in which this type of work was being used by white supremacists. This lack of awareness underscores my own white privilege and highlights my ignorance with respect to this issue, especially considering how medievalists<\/a> of color have been actively calling out<\/a> these harmful appropriations<\/a>. For this reason, and in light of recent events, I feel that it is absolutely imperative that I respond directly, clarify my own position, and reject the noxious white supremacist claims embedded in this dishonest framing and mischaracterization of my work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are so many problems with ChristianForTruth’s blog, it is hard to know where to begin. The blog laments how “European paganism is very popular among many White Nationalists” and proceeds to try and reclaim their allegiance within a Christianized version of white supremacy. It gets worse from there. The blog erroneously asserts that “White Europeans migrated up into Europe from the Near East” in its effort to define Europe as uniformly white, and adds that “At the time of Christ, the Near East \u2014 including Anatolia (modern Turkey) and Judea \u2014 were inhabited largely by White people \u2014 extending across most of the northern coast of Africa.” As with arguments made by certain philologists and Egyptologists in the past, this narrative supports the white surpremacist notion that ancient Egypt was specifically “white” in a rhetorical move designed to strip Africa of one of its best known and most prominent, premodern civilizations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their agenda is laid bare when the anonymous authors that comprise the mysterious “CFT Team<\/a>” contend that “Christianity has been a ‘European’ religion from its foundations \u2014 the apostle Paul sent his epistles to White European peoples” as they complain that “We know from history that most of this area was eventually overrun by Arabs \u2014 who now occupy \u2014 and live on top of \u2014 much of this former White homeland \u2014 the literal cradle of our civilization.” The use of “our” here, to refer to white people specifically, is another indicator of the blog’s rhetorical aims, which concern identifying Christianity as natively European and misrepresenting both medieval Europe and the ancient Mediterranean world as homogeneously white. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the very end of the blog, the CFT Team further reveals their hand by placing Woden directly within a Christian worldview and alleging ridiculous genealogical connections. The blog concludes by stating that “Woden\/Odin was a Saxon, a Goth, a Scythian, an Israelite \u2014 but he wasn\u2019t God,” thereby fusing their theological argument for Christian superiority within their ethnocentric argument for white supremacy.

Although ChristianForTruth’s post reproduces almost my entire blog, it clearly was not read very closely. The CFT Team states that when it comes to regarding Woden as a god: “There is only one small problem with this fanciful narrative \u2014 Woden was a real man \u2014 a historically-documented ancestral chieftain \u2014 that pagans long ago turned into a god \u2014 and began to worship as a god out of sheer ignorance, according to Medieval historian Richard Fahey [my PhD is in English].” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Woden interwoven into early medieval English royal lineage, The British Library, Cotton Caligula A.viii, f. 29r.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This is not at all what I argued in 2015, and these claims attributed to me are in actuality the arguments of the CFT Team alone (seemingly drawn from my discussion of the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0century historian\u00a0\u00c6thelweard<\/a>‘s writing). They do not in any way represent my opinions or beliefs on the subject. In my initial blog, I make no judgment as to whether to regard Woden (or Odin) as principally a god or an ancestor, and I certainly do not consider the deification of Woden a matter of “sheer ignorance” on the part of pre-Christian peoples. I make no theological claims at all, nor any historical argument that Woden was “a real man” as the CFT Team suggests. In fact, I speculate that Woden may have been first<\/em> regarded as a god (prior to Christianization), and that it is only after<\/em> early medieval England’s gradual conversion to Christianity that Woden’s role seems to become distinctly defined a legitimizing ancestor for many early medieval kings in England. Perhaps there was an ancient leader named Woden, who is later deified, but the truth is we have no way of knowing for sure.

In sum, and with unfettered conviction, I reject the CFT Team’s problematic distortion of my work. I denounce the arguments being made in ChristiansForTruth’s blog as a racist historical revision and a blatant effort to affirm ahistorical, white supremacist narratives. And, while I responded directly on their website, in a comment on their page (which will probably never be approved), to express my outrage over the misrepresentation of my work, it occurs to me that this can be a teachable moment\u2014both for myself and perhaps for other white medievalists. This is what can happen to our work if we are not careful, and while it is not always possible to control who uses and abuses our scholarship, it is crucial that we give white nationalists as little ammunition for their weaponization of the medieval as possible.

Richard Fahey
PhD in English
University of Notre Dame
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baker, Peter. \u201cAnglo-Saxon Studies After Charlottesville: Reflections of a University of Virginia Professor<\/a>.\u201d Medievalists of Color <\/em>(2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dockray-Miller, Mary. \u201cOld English Has a Serious Image Problem<\/a>.\u201d JSTOR Daily<\/em> (2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elliott, Andrew B.R. \u201cA Vile Love Affair: Right Wing Nationalism and the Middle Ages<\/a>.\u201d The Public Medievalist<\/em> (2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fahey, Richard. \u201cMarauders in the US Capitol: Alt-right Viking Wannabes & Weaponized Medievalism<\/a>.\u201d Medieval Studies Research Blog<\/em>. University of Notre Dame (2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cWoden and O\u00f0inn: Mythic Figures of the North<\/a>\u201d Medieval Studies Research Blog<\/em>. University of Notre Dame (2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. “Woden: Allfather of the English<\/a>” Medieval Studies Research Blog<\/em>. University of Notre Dame (2015).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franke, Daniel. \u201cMedievalism, White Supremacy, and the Historian\u2019s Craft: A Response<\/a>.\u201d Perspectives on History <\/em>(2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gabriele, Matthew. \u201cVikings, Crusaders, Confederates: Misunderstood Historical Imagery at the January 6 Capitol Insurrection<\/a>.\u201d Perspectives on History<\/em> (2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014, and Mary Rambaran-Olm. \u201cThe Middle Ages Have Been Misused by the Far Right. Here\u2019s Why It\u2019s So Important to Get Medieval History Right<\/a>.\u201d Time<\/em> (2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cIslamophobes want to recreate the Crusades. But they don\u2019t understand them at all<\/a>.\u201d The Washington Post<\/em> (2017). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodman, Lawrence. \u201cJousting With the Alt-Right<\/a>.\u201d Brandeis Magazine<\/em> (2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heng, Geraldine. \u201cWhy the Hate? The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages<\/em>, and Race, Racism, and Premodern Critical Race Studies Today<\/a>.\u201d  In the Middle<\/em>  (2020). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages<\/em>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

H\u00f6fig, Verena. \u201cVinland and white nationalism.\u201d In From Iceland to the Americas: Vinland and historical imagination<\/em>, ed. Tim William Machan and J\u00f3n Karl Helgason. Manchester University Press, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim, Dorothy. \u201cThe Question of Race in Beowulf<\/em><\/a>.\u201d JSTOR Daily<\/em> (2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cWhite Supremacists have Weaponized an Imaginary Viking Past. It\u2019s Time to Reclaim the Real History<\/a>.\u201d Time<\/em> (2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cTeaching Medieval Studies in a Time of White Supremacy<\/a>.\u201d In the Middl<\/em>e (2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cThe Unbearable Whiteness of Medieval Studies<\/a>.\u201d In the Middle<\/em> (2016). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Knight, Ellen. \u201cThe Capitol Riot and the Crusades: Why the Far Right Is Obsessed With Medieval History<\/a>.\u201d Teen Vogue <\/em>(2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little, Becky. \u201cHow Hate Groups are Hijacking Medieval Symbols While Ignoring the Facts Behind Them<\/a>.\u201d History.com<\/em> (2018). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Livingstone, Josephine. \u201cRacism, Medievalism, and the White Supremacists of Charlottesville<\/a>.\u201d The New Republic<\/em> (2017)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lomuto, Sierra. \u201cPublic Medievalism and the Rigor of Anti-Racist Critique<\/a>.\u201d In the Middle<\/em> (2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cWhite Nationalism and the Ethics of Medieval Studies<\/a>.\u201d In the Middle<\/em> (2016).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luginbill, Sarah. \u201cWhite Supremacy and Medieval History: A Brief Overview<\/a>.\u201d Erstwile: A History Blog (2020). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mas, Liselotte. \u201cAuschwitz, QAnon, Viking tattoos: the white supremacist symbols sported by rioters who stormed the Capitol<\/a>.\u201d The Observers<\/em> (2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mills, Ryan. \u201cThe \u2018Q Shaman\u2019 on Why He Stormed the Capitol Dressed as a Viking<\/a>.\u201d National Review<\/em> (2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M\u00fcller, Miriam. \u201cRevolting Peasants, Neo-Nazis, and their Commentators<\/a>.\u201d Medievally Speaking <\/em>(2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narayanan, Tirumular. \u201cFrazetta\u2019s \u201cDeath Dealer\u201d and the Question of White Nationalist Iconography at Fort Hood<\/a>.\u201d Medieval Studies Research Blog<\/em>. University of Notre Dame (2020).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olusoga, David. \u201cBlack people have had a presence in our history for centuries. Get over it<\/a>.\u201d The Guardian<\/em> (2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perry, David. \u201cHow to Fight 8chan Medievalism \u2013 and Why We Must<\/a>.\u201d Pacific Standard<\/em>. (2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cWhat to Do When Nazis are Obsessed with Your Field<\/a>.\u201d Pacific Standard<\/em>. September 6, 2017. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cWhite supremacists love Vikings. But they\u2019ve got history all wrong<\/a>.\u201d The Washington Post<\/em>. (2017). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rambaran-Olm, Mary. \u201cMisnaming the Medieval: Rejecting \u201cAnglo-Saxon\u201d Studies<\/a>.\u201d History Workshop<\/em> (2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cAnglo-Saxon Studies [Early English Studies], Academia and White Supremacy.<\/a>\u201d Medium<\/em> (2018).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reed, Sam. \u201cHere\u2019s the Story Behind Those Viking Helmets at the Capitol<\/a>.\u201d In Style<\/em> (2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Romey, Kristin. \u201cDecoding the hate symbols seen at the Capitol insurrection<\/a>.\u201d National Geographic<\/em> (2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schuessler, Jennifer. \u201cMedieval Scholars Joust With White Nationalists. And One Another.<\/a>\u201d The New York Times<\/em> (2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sturtevant, Paul B. \u201cLeaving \u201cMedieval\u201d Charlottesville<\/a>.\u201d The Public Medievalist <\/em>(2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symes, Carol. \u201cMedievalism, White Supremacy, and the Historian\u2019s Craft<\/a>.\u201d Perspectives on History <\/em>(2017).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vinje, Judith Gabriel. \u201cViking symbols \u201cstolen\u201d by racists<\/a>.\u201d The Norwegian American<\/em> (2017). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young, Helen. \u201cWhy the far-right and white supremecists have embraced the Middle Ages and their symbols<\/a>.\u201d The Conversation<\/em> (2021).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cWhite Supremacists love the Middle Ages<\/a>.\u201d In the Middle<\/em> (2017). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014. \u201cRe-making The Real Middle Ages (TM)<\/a>.\u201d In the Middle<\/em> (2014).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like other scholars in the field, I recently wrote about the use of medieval symbolism in the white nationalist movement involved in the January 6th attack on the US Capitol, which focused on how they mobilize narratives of white supremacy and an imaginary “pure white” medieval period in European history to recruit members to their … <\/p>\n

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