23/11/2022 02:19 Anglo-Saxon Studies [Early English Studies], Academia and White Supremacy | by M.

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Jun 27, 2018 · 9 min read · Member-only · Listen

Anglo-Saxon Studies [Early English Studies],

Academia and White Supremacy

T he first time I read Beowulf, I was hooked. Set against an ominous

backdrop, the flawed hero immortalized for his pride just as much as his
courage piqued my interest along with the complexity and foreignness of the
archaic language in which the poem is told. It’s like that for a lot of us: One
spark starts our journey into academe. That was nearly two decades ago.
Today I am one of the only active scholars of color specializing in Early
medieval England* in the native-English speaking world. I’ve struggled to
prove my worth as a scholar, as my skin color constantly impedes on how I am
perceived and in turn what I am capable of achieving. Additionally, I’ve
watched as other colleagues of color leave the field. In a field laid claim to by
white supremacists, this is a tragedy.

Over the past few years and with alarming frequency, medieval images have
been turned into memes, and posted without context on white supremacist
websites and social media. One recent example from the website Stormfront
proposed a quixotic connection between swastikas and ‘Anglo-Saxons.’ Also on
the neo-Nazi website, we find Beowulf grouped with other “western” texts as
essential reading. The poem, they believe, links them to a supposed warrior
past.** While these posts and the pernicious ideas behind them proliferate,
medievalists of early England and our organizational leadership have largely
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23/11/2022 02:19 Anglo-Saxon Studies [Early English Studies], Academia and White Supremacy | by M. Rambaran-Olm | Medium

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remained silent over the years. One reason for this silence: The field is just too
white.

Why is the field so white? Historically, Early English studies was perceived,
taught and studied within an Empirical framework which most often created
an implicit bias surrounding ‘British’ origins. The perpetuated false narrative
continues to prevent students of color from connecting with the texts, and in
short, drives away both students and scholars of color — people who, like me,
grow tired of constantly being asked to justify their existence in a field
assumed to belong to white people. The same bias is not present in disciplines
like African American studies, which boasts of a diverse scholarly community.

I have been told many times I “do not look like an ‘Anglo-Saxonist.’” I’ve even
been told after a campus interview, by the chair of a hiring committee (for a
job I didn’t get) that the deciding factor against me was the department’s
struggle to “justify to their students that [I] was an ‘Anglo-Saxonist.’” My
primary area of expertise and the majority of my work concentrates on Anglo-
Saxon studies [now early English studies], so what other justification is
necessary? Worse, I have witnessed 2.3K
a handful11of competent people of color
leave early English studies because they believed there was no room for
visible minorities to work in the field.

Even the few, barebones opportunities to support diverse scholars are being
squandered. The International Society of Anglo-Saxonists (ISAS) has upwards
of 700 members. No official stats are available, but judging from the members
list, one might generously estimate between 2–3 percent of present members
are non-white. At the group’s biannual meeting in Hawaii last year, Dr. Adam
Miyashiro, a native Hawaiian, proposed to discuss the ways that Beowulf
yields specific readings that continue to be used by white supremacists. He
was turned down by organizers. Although many good proposals are turned
down — this decision, understandable in the abstract — takes on a different
character in a field that consistently shuts out diverse voices. The
conversation of race is continuously shifted into the hands of white scholars,
even in fields like early English studies which is one of the least equipped
fields to discuss critical race theory in relation to its literature and history.
Miyashiro (who gave me permission to share his story) and I are not alone in
having experienced exclusion, but we are increasingly alone in the field. This
is not just about individuals losing out on positions because competition is
high, rather there are guardians and gate-keepers on hiring committees
committed to keeping the field white. Demonstrably, merit has no meaning.

By and large, this gate-keeping has been the modus operandi for specialists of
early English studies. Silence or resistance to acknowledge scholars of color
reinforces ever present white supremacy. Silence makes one complicit, but,
on the same hand, so do empty words and undertaking zero practical
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measures to counter racism. There is nothing structurally available for

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scholars of color in our field and no movement within academia to work on

eliminating racism. People are leaving, deciding to pivot, changing careers,
and choosing to never study early English studies or related material because
racism is prevalent in our field. Recent attempts to address racism in my field
have been done without PoC voices (apart from a number of vulnerable and
brave grad students and early career researchers), as was reflected at ISAS
2017. Additionally, when we are present, the people with institutional power
are absent as was evident in the abysmal representation of senior scholars for
panels centering MoC (Medievalists of Color) voices and emphasizing race-
related issues in the field at the Modern Language Association (MLA)
Congress 2018 in NYC. (Spoiler alert: no senior-level scholars of early English
studies attending the conference were present for those sessions, particularly
session 491.)

The situation in early English studies is not isolated. Plagued by Euro-

centrism, Medieval Studies as a whole continues to stumble along in attempts
to address ‘otherness’. This was evidenced during last year’s controversy
involving the tone-deaf white scholar’s ‘joke’ about ‘otherness’ during the
plenary at the annual International Medieval Congress in Leeds. Scholars of
color are not just walking away from plenary talks in disgust, they are
completely walking away from the field.

O ver the past eight months I talked to several scholars of color about
their choices to pivot out of early English studies. Choosing to stay
anonymous for professional reasons, several told me racism was their
deciding factor. They told me things like: “I had no choice. There was no room
for me,” and “in my interactions with medievalists, I always felt ostracized and
pushed out.” Another said that skin color was a constant distraction to their
scholarship. “It’s beyond difficult to jockey your way in and continue to try
and justify your work when your currency and worth is based on your skin
color. As a brown ‘Anglo-Saxonist’ I had no currency, so I realized I needed to
switch course.” Another told me about facing racist harassment from their
supervisor in graduate school.

Early English studies is struggling as a field as interest in pursuing early

English studies at the graduate level wanes, and more departments decide not
to replace retiring early medievalists; thus, the field is trying to make a case
for its relevance and survival. Greater diversity among its professors would
not only help the field engage pressing issues like race and racism, it might
also attract new types of students. Instead of expanding the scholarly
community to include those who would offer fresh and innovative scholarly
ideas, the field has resorted to insularity and tribalism. We need to make a
strong case for our relevance as scholars of pre-modern history given recent
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decisions like the US College Board’s revision of its K-12 Advanced Placement Get started
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(AP) World History exam, limiting its assessment to content circa. 1450 —
present.

Compounding this problem of relevance is the recent focus of the alt-right on

the field. Early English studies risks appealing to students who hope to uphold
white supremacy, rather than to those who wish to challenge it. One of the
attendees of the Charlottesville march, for instance, was identified as a
student specializing in Medieval Studies. Others who end up aligning with
Neo-Nazism start out with an interest in the Middle Ages, particularly the
crusades.

Early English studies often attracts conservative-leaning students because

much of its surviving material is Christian and taught with a Euro-centric
angle. But consider important figures within the early English narrative, like
the late 7th/early 8th-century monks Hadrian and Theodore — refugees from
Asia Minor whose influence had an enduring effect. Hadrian described as “a
man of African race” might be the most important ‘black Briton’ in English
history, while Theodore brought with him the ancient Greek Christian
traditions borne out of Syria and Palestine. Their imperishable legacy is
hardly mentioned, if at all, in the classroom, and theirs and others whose
origins were not Euro-centric are often downplayed or ignored because they
don’t fit the Romantic narrative that the early English kingdom was self-made
by white people. The monks’ ‘otherness’ is completely overlooked in light of
the fact that these two men traveled throughout the kingdom, built a library,
lectured, and trained the next generation of priests, artists, writers and
administrators. Migration has always been part of the human narrative, and it
is vital in our present day to reflect on what migration is and how it was/is
beneficial. Throughout the kingdom’s entire history, Great Britain has not
developed, improved and progressed in a bubble on its own. The
aforementioned migrants and many others like them contributed immensely
to what would become the cultural heritage of the British people while the
kingdom was still in its infancy.

Even the 9th-century King Alfred’s appeal to attract foreign monks and
scholars to rebuild the intellectual community after wars have ravaged the
kingdom is glossed over in the British historical narrative. Arguably, the king
may have exaggerated the need, but certainly the foreigners who came from
abroad to ensure cultural and intellectual growth had a lasting impact. In the
kingdom’s infancy, individuals from North Africa and the Iberian peninsula
played an important role in the establishment and future of Britain’s cultural
growth and influence. Within the Christian tradition in the English speaking
world, it is often overlooked that many of the Church Fathers were from
Northern Africa, and their theological commentary provided the framework
for the works of the late 7th-/early 8th-century monk Bede. My own work on a
poem within the 10th-century Exeter Book hints at the poet’s knowledge of
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Syrian Apocrypha, so these traces of a global influence should be further

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explored in relation to the early English narrative. Early English studies

implies white, traditional and conservative and its current stars in the field
often champion this representation. The field will not remedy itself if, at its
core, it attracts white supremacists and/or continues to reject people from
marginalized communities that offer new possibilities and promise to a dying
field. Altogether, a more diverse set of scholars specializing in early medieval
England would be more likely to explore ‘different’ angles, and other stories
like them; thus broadening our understanding of the period in the process.

Early English Studies is a beautiful field, with both linguistic and

contemporary relevance. It furthers our understanding of human history,
allows us to draw parallels and highlight differences between areas around
the globe, and helps explain today’s world. And yet it finds itself in a
diminished position, applauded increasingly by white nationalists. The field
need not reinvent the material, but we need to change. What can we do as
scholars to reinvigorate the field?

Realistically, if change is going to happen, allies within and outside post-

secondary institutions need to be more proactive. We need to teach
differently. We need to change the field’s image both in the public eye and
within academe. We need to counter false narratives about the field from the
alt-right — something that cannot be done by an all-white field.
Acknowledging and including the marginalized voices within the field would
be a start. Let’s get to work.

Addendum: This article was originally to be published in The Chronicle of Higher

Education, but was cut at the last minute. I have retained the rights and have
altered that version slightly. The fact that there are reservations to publish pieces
concerning widespread racism in fields such as mine (no doubt reflected in other
fields and disciplines) seems a problem in of itself. It also speaks volumes when
senior scholars (particularly in my field) catch wind of these publications before they
are printed and do their utmost to ensure that such stories are not told or published
elsewhere. The days for silencing our voices is coming to an end. Our stories will and
should be told, not to destroy our fields, but to strengthen and ensure their survival.

By M. Rambaran-Olm, PhD.
*To reflect on-going changes in my field I have updated the article to refer to
the field as “Early English Studies.”

**I have linked to various white supremacy websites using donotlink.

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