Description of Paper XII:
Medieval Intersectional Identities
1. Course content
The
course gives students the opportunity, as a contrasting complement to the other
FHS Medieval French papers, to privilege a concept-led approach to literature
of the Francophone Middle Ages, centring the rich and important critical
question of intersectional identities in order to
pave the way for methodological reflection: how does medieval literature
articulate challenges to empowerment and agency? How do texts’ genres (e.g. chanson de geste,
fabliau) define or become defined by their representation of authority in
relation to gender, ethnicity, or social class? In what ways have traditions
and movements in scholarship on medieval Francophone literature shaped or
transformed understanding of identity politics? What kinds of dialogue are most
fruitful to pursue between medieval texts and modern theoretical approaches (e.g. queer theory, postcolonialism)? Through guided case
studies drawn from texts which may include, for example, Anglo-Norman saints’
lives, continental French romances, or Old Occitan lyric, you will develop a
nuanced appreciation of the literary representation of medieval concepts of
human identity and will then select your own case studies for exploration in
your portfolio. In the modern day, when a distorted representation of ‘the
Middle Ages’ is sometimes adopted by extremist groups to promote the oppression
and maltreatment of minoritised groups, it is all the more vital to study the medieval materials in order
to challenge narratives of power.
2. Teaching
The
course is taught in a series of six meetings in Hilary Term of the student’s
final year, normally four seminars and two tutorials. You do not need already
to have taken another FHS medieval paper (VI or IX) in French. We encourage
students to engage as much as possible with the texts in their original
language (and always if choosing to write a commentary), and
have provided resources on Canvas for you to use to prepare, following the
recorded lectures on Reading Medieval French and on Medieval French commentary
writing. However, all seminar texts will be available with modern French or
English translation, to ensure that the course is as widely accessible as
possible. Lectures in Michaelmas Term set up a general framework for the Paper
(‘Medieval Identities’, 2 lectures) and offer important contextual knowledge
(‘Key Concepts in Medieval French Literature’, 8 lectures).
3. Examination
Method of Assessment B (2). The portfolio may
consist of essays, commentaries, or a combination of both. The subjects for
essays / commentaries will be chosen in consultation with tutors, allowing for
considerable freedom in the material studied and approaches adopted.
4. Introductory Reading
o
Andrew Albin, Mary C. Erler, Thomas O'Donnell, Nicholas L. Paul, Nina Rowe,
editors, Whose Middle Ages? Teachable Moments for an Ill-Used Past
(Fordham University Press, 2019)
o
Glen Burger and Steven F.
Kruger (eds), Queering the Middle Ages (University of Minnesota Press,
2001)
o
Carolyn Dinshaw, Getting Medieval: Sexualities and Communities,
Pre- and Post-Modern (Duke University Press, 1999)
o
Simon Gaunt, ‘French
Literature Abroad: Towards an Alternative History of French Literature’, Interfaces
1 (2015): 25-61
o
Simon Gaunt, Gender and
Genre in Medieval French Literature (Cambridge University Press, 1995)
o
Jane Gilbert, Simon Gaunt
and William Burgwinkle, Medieval French Literary
Culture Abroad (Oxford University Press, 2020)
o
Geraldine Heng, The
Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press,
2018)
o
Nicola Morato
and Dirk Schoenaers (eds.), Medieval Francophone
Literary Culture outside France : Studies in the
Moving Word (Brepols, 2019)
o
Tory Vandeventer
Pearman, Women and Disability in Medieval Literature (Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010)
o
Cord J. Whitaker, Black
Metaphors: How Modern Racism Emerged from Medieval Race-Thinking
(University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019)
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