IMC 2025: Sessions
Session 533: Social Media, Public Humanities, and Pedagogy
Tuesday 8 July 2025, 09:00-10:30
| Sponsor: | Medieval Social Media Society |
|---|---|
| Organisers: | Lauren Cole, Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Musikwissenschaft, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz / Department of History, Northwestern University E. K. McAlpine, Independent Scholar |
| Moderator/Chair: | Lauren Cole, Institut für Kunstgeschichte und Musikwissenschaft, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz / Department of History, Northwestern University |
| Paper 533-a | #MedievalTwitter: A Land of Contrasts (Language: English) Index terms: Archives and Sources, Computing in Medieval Studies, Gender Studies, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Paper 533-b | #Beowulf: Bringing Old English from the 'Dark Ages' to the Digital Age (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Old English, Medievalism and Antiquarianism, Teaching the Middle Ages |
| Paper 533-c | What if the Middle Ages Were Beautiful Too?: Dante, Dark Academia, and Medievalist Aesthetics on Social Media (Language: English) Index terms: Computing in Medieval Studies, Language and Literature - Comparative, Medievalism and Antiquarianism |
| Abstract | Social media opens up opportunities for teaching, sharing research, and engaging with broad audiences beyond the academy. Medievalists are no strangers to social media, with many to be found on platforms including YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and X/Twitter. To some, social media is the great leveler. Scholars of all stages are able to share their knowledge and develop their pedagogical communication. Scholars and audiences from around the world, and of all backgrounds, engage in discussion and the co-production of knowledges. But at the same time, social media can reinforce and uphold a divide between “expert” and “public.” Many social media platforms, particularly video-sharing platforms, present the creator as a single voice of legitimacy sharing expertise. Audiences typically have no way of assessing the knowledge claims made by creators, as few social media platforms provide an effective way to share sources. Rather, the number of followers becomes shorthand for expertise, as users trust bigger accounts to tell the “truth.” Papers in this session explore how pedagogical techniques on social media generate interest in Old English, reflect on the inclusive possibilities and limitations of #MedievalTwitter, and examine the relationship between medieval texts and the ‘dark academia’ online aesthetic movement. |