IMC 2018: Sessions
Session 1349: Monstrous Medievalism: Toxic Appropriations of the Middle Ages in Modern Popular Culture and Thought
Wednesday 4 July 2018, 16.30-18.00
| Sponsor: | Monsters: The Experimental Association for the Research of Cryptozoology through Scholarly Theory & Practical Application (MEARCSTAPA) |
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| Organiser: | Renée Michelle Ward, School of English & Journalism, University of Lincoln |
| Moderator/Chair: | Renée Michelle Ward, School of English & Journalism, University of Lincoln |
| Paper 1349-a | 'Die, defenceless, primitive natives!': Colonialism and Genocide in The Legacy of Heorot (Language: English) Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Old English, Political Thought |
| Paper 1349-b | 'Mordred the Jew': Perpetuating the Judas Archetype in Medievalisms (Language: English) Index terms: Medievalism and Antiquarianism, Social History |
| Paper 1349-c | Paul Kingsnorth's The Wake and Anglo-Saxonism in Contemporary Political Discourse (Language: English) Index terms: Medievalism and Antiquarianism, Political Thought |
| Abstract | The medieval period continues to be misidentified both as a primitive and savage 'dark ages' and as an idealized utopian golden age of racial and religious homogeny. In both cases, aspects of medieval culture - stories, motifs, and themes - are appropriated and reimagined (that is, remembered and reconstructed) in ways that celebrate and promote the othering of certain racial and ethnic groups or cultures. These monstrous medievalisms use the period to foster some of the most pernicious ideologies of the present day and distort our understanding of the past. We ask, whose Middle Ages are they? And in so doing, we seek to confront these monstrous medievalisms, to unravel and make sense of them in order to dismantle the negative work they do. |