A Better (European) Middle Ages for Everyone
Getting the Band Back Together to Build Solidarity in Medieval Studies
Modern Medieval
by David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele
This past weekend (October 4-5, 2024), we got the band back together for something fun - something exciting.
Matt was happy to host 20 medievalists at Virginia Tech for a workshop on the “Public Middle Ages,” a full-day+ event designed to pair experienced public medievalists with colleagues trying to dip their toes in the waters.
The event was generously sponsored by a Centennial Grant from the Medieval Academy of America, as well as funding from the UVA Program in Medieval Studies, and support from various departments and programs at Virginia Tech (primarily Matt’s own Department of Religion & Culture).
Selected after a competitive application process, 15 scholars proposed potential projects to bring the Middle Ages to wider publics. What an amazing group! They came from all levels of varied career paths (from MA students to full professors to people working outside academia), from all regions of the country, and from a wide variety of academic disciplines. You can see some of their proposed projects here.
The other participants were a selection of experienced mentors who have been doing this public-facing work for a while. In addition to Matt and David, this included the extraordinary Sarah E. Bond, the exceptional Eleanor Janega, and the wonderful Cord Whitaker.
And the point was to intentionally pair these 2 groups, to build (hopefully) long-lasting mentor-mentee relationships and networks of support that will develop, and grow, and last.
After some morning sessions, going over general points - focusing on communication strategies, pitching ideas, and community building - the small groups held an intensive, all-afternoon discussion about the participants’ actual projects. Mentees presented their work, mentors offered feedback and suggestions, and the entire small group collaborated to support each other.
We like to think that everyone left energized. It certainly seemed that way. And that feeling is important.
Although the ostensible goal of the event was to bring these events back to the participants’ local communities - to teach people about the Middle Ages and build interest in 2025, during the Centennial Year of the Medieval Academy of America - the overarching goal was also to fight the sense of gloom and crisis, of alienation within the field.
There is - really - a hunger to learn more about the Middle Ages at all levels. Our classes at college fill, games set in the time period (often albeit with fantasy elements) sell, movies and shows have great viewership, etc. But reaching those audiences as an academic, as a scholar, requires a different mode of communication than the ones we’re used to. We talk to students, we write for experts, but there’s a middle voice too - one meant to spark curiosity, to meet someone where they are and invite them into our community. But this is hard work; it requires skills that don’t come naturally, even if those skills are definitely learnable.
Thus the importance of the mentoring relationships, of bringing people together around a table, of creating a network of like-minded people doing this work. It’s understandable that medievalists often feel alone, to feel like the problem’s too big and so keep your head down and just watch medieval studies circle the drain.
But this is a field worth fighting for. There are people here doing amazing work, filled with energy and excitement, and we can nurture that. We don’t need to keep reinventing the wheel with every explainer we write for a magazine, every event we organize on our campus, every interview we do on tv. We can and should work together, learn from one another. We can build the medieval studies, the field, we want - one of collaboration, of energy, of excitement, and of solidarity - and, hopefully, this workshop at Virginia Tech was a small step in that direction.
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I signed up for the free subscription, but have missed the additional benefits for a paid subscription. I minored in Medieval History in college and read alot of medieval published times. I am also subscribed to the Medieval World publication, which comes to me in hard copy from Europe. What are those additional benefits from a paid subscription? Thank you.
Cynthia - This is a free newsletter and we very much appreciate paid subscriptions as a way to defray costs, we're still building here. We moved from Substack (which is free but backed by dodgy venture capital folks) to Buttondown, which we pay for. We hope, in time, to have some options including using funds to pay guest writers, signed books for subscribers, private Q&As, and more. But we're still very much ramping up.