Middle East Studies

New England Medieval Studies Consortium – Illuminating Hidden Figures: Diversity and Difference in the Middle Ages

event poster

Friday, March 16 –
Saturday, March 17, 2018

Friday March 16, 2018 5:00 – 6:30 p.m., Saturday March 17, 10:30 a.m.– 5:30 p.m

Smith-Buonanno Hall 106

Illuminating Hidden Figures: Diversity and Difference in the Middle Ages

The diversity of medieval Europe has come under close scrutiny from all sides. As medievalists have, with increasing vigor, insisted on complex and nuanced understandings of the constitution of both normative European societies and their interactions with those surrounding them, popular ideological movements have sought to claim the medieval past as a homogeneous, ‘white’ male space. Whether it is studied through art, literature, theology, history, gender and sexuality studies, or any of the other manifold disciplines that comprise medieval studies, the question of diversity and difference in the middle ages thus represents not only an increasingly fruitful avenue of scholarly inquiry, but also a vital interface between academia and the public at large.

The keynote address, "Rhetoric, Race, and the End of the White Middle Ages,” will be delivered by Cord Whitaker (Wellesley College) on the evening of Friday, March 16.

Partner Events

Friday March 16

5:00-6:30 p.m. – Keynote: Race, Rhetoric, and the End of the Middle Ages (Cord Whitaker, assistant professor of English, Wellesley College)

Saturday March 17

10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. – Blood and Borders: Race and Identity in the Global Middle Ages
1:30-3:00 p.m. – New Christians & Beyond: Africa, the Atlantic, the Pacific
3:30-5:30 p.m. – Bodies of Power: (En)gendering Text and Image