Medieval Studies and the Far Right
Medieval Studies and the Far Right Conference
09:30-10:00 - Registration
Opening remarks : Alyssa Steiner
10:10-11:30 - Session 1: Constructing the Medieval
● Elias Friedrichs, Cologne: Were the Middle Ages fascist? Pitfalls of Evaluating the Past
● Sophia Mösch, Oxford: Twentieth-century Western Constructions of Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages: The Problem of Periodisation
● Henrike Lähnemann, Oxford: Remembering the Reformation from the Right
11:30-12:00 - Coffee
12:00-13:00 - Session 2: Racialising in the Middle Ages
● Thomas Revell, Oxford: The Persecution and Forced Conversion of Judas in the Old English Elene
● Adrian Meyer, Cologne: Bourgeois, Jews and Money. Imagining Non-Monetary Middle Ages
13:00-14:00 - Lunch
14:00-15:00 - Session 3: Instrumentalising the Middle Ages
● Linus Ubl, Oxford: Place and identity: Storytelling of lieux de memoire. The example of Montségur
● Dominic Weber, Basel: Satanism, Neopaganism, Antisemitism- The Middle Ages as an inspirational Space in Far-Right Black, Pagan and Viking Metal
15:00-15:30 - Break/Crypt tour
The 12th-century church of St Peter-in-the-East is on the site of St. Edmund Hall, and currently serves as the college library . During this break, there will be the opportunity to tour the crypt of this Norman church with Professor Henrike Lähnemann.
15:30-17:00 - Session 4: Theorising the Medieval
● Ilya Afanasyev, Moscow: Beyond the Far Right: Medieval Studies and Common-Sense Nationalism
● Oliver Eagleton, Oxford: New Materialism, Premodern Matter
● Sam Dunnett, Oxford: Poetry, preferably nature, and the age of myths’: Fascist Ecology and Premodernity’
17:00-18:00 – Plenary chaired by Charlie Powell.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Deadline: 12th March 2019
This interdisciplinary conference invites speakers to explore the relationship, past and present, between the medieval and far right ideologies. Key areas for focus are: examining racisms in the medieval, unpicking the history of medieval studies, and confronting contemporary far right medievalism.
We welcome abstracts of 300-500 words relating (but not limited to) the following topics:
- Racial constructions, anti-Semitism, and racism in medieval history and culture
- Discourses of power in medieval text
- The history of medieval studies and cultural nationalism
- Racism in 20th century scholarship
- Fascism and the aesthetics of the Medieval
- The Medieval and the alt-right
- Far-right medievalisms in the academy and in public discourse
Please send abstracts to organisers Charlie Powell and Alyssa Steiner at msfcon.ox@gmail.com by 12th March 2019.
In association with Oxford Medieval Studies, Sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities.
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A conference in association with Oxford Medieval Studies, sponsored by The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities (TORCH).
