The Ballad of the Lone Medievalist
- Edited by Kisha G. Tracy, John P. Sexton
Published on August 23, 2018 by punctum books
- Pages
- 388 pages
- Languages
- English
- Dimensions
- 5⤫8 in.
- ISBN (Paperback)
- ISBN: 978-1-947447-54-7 (Paperback)
- ISBN (PDF)
- ISBN: 978-1-947447-55-4 (PDF)
- LCCN
- LCCN: 2018940292
- BISAC subject codes
- BISAC: BIO019000
- Thema subject codes
- THEMA: DSBB, JNM, NHDJ
Working medievalists are often the only scholar of the Middle Ages in a department, a university, or a hundred-mile radius. While working to build a body of focused scholarly work, the lone medievalist is expected to be a generalist in the classroom and a contributing member of a campus community that rarely offers disciplinary community in return. As a result, overtasked and single medievalists often find it challenging to advocate for their work and field.
As other responsibilities and expectations crowd in, we come to feel disconnected from the projects and subjects that sustain our intellectual passion. An insidious isolation even from one another creeps in, and soon, even attending a conference of fellow medievalists can become a lonely experience. Surrounded by scholars with greater institutional support, lower teaching loads, or more robust research agendas, we may feel alienated from our work — the work to which we’ve dedicated our careers.
The Lone Medievalist (the collaborative community(opens in new tab) and the book) is intended as an antidote to the problem of professional isolation. It is offered in the spirit of common weal that marks the ideals (if not always the realities) of so many of the communities we study — agricultural, professional, national, notional, and of course, monastic. The Ballad of the Lone Medievalist isn’t only about scholarship, or teaching, or institutional life, or the pursuit of new learning — it’s about all of them.
The essays in this volume address all aspects of the professional and intellectual life of medievalists. Though many of us acknowledge and address the challenges in being Lone Medievalists, these essays are not intended as voces clamantium; they are offered to provide strategies, camaraderie, and an occasional bit of inspiration. They are a call to action, a sharing of hard-won wisdom, and a helping hand — and, above all, a reminder that we are not alone.
Contents
Frontmatter (i–xiii)
Kisha G. Tracy, John P. Sexton
Who Was That Masked Monk? (13–16)
John P. Sexton, Kisha G. Tracy
The Lone Medievalist: Casting the Net (17–28)
Sarah Barott, Rachel Munson
Not so Lonesome Anymore: Bridging the Disciplines through Pedagogy (31–49)
Peter Burkholder
Keeping It Old-School on the New Faculty Majority (51–64)
Geoffrey B. Elliott
Interdisciplinary/Team Teaching and the Lone Medievalist (65–70)
Natalie Grinnell
And Gladly Wolde He Teche: The Medievalist and the History of the English Language Course (71–78)
Robert Kellerman
I Know! Let's Put on a Show! (79–93)
Robert Stauffer
Perpetual Invention and Performance-Based Research: The Case of The Ballad of Robin Hood and the Potter (95–108)
Carolyn Coulson
What's the Message? Building Community through Tolkien's Beowulf (109–117)
Holly M. Wendt
Why Read That? Selling the Middle Ages (119–135)
Diane Cady
A Trip to England: Discovering the Ties between Medievalism and Pop Culture (137–142)
Danielle Girard, Sarah Huff, Justine Marsella, Alicia Protze, Abbie Rosen, Jacki Teague
From the Monk's Cell to the Professor's Office (145–159)
Kisha G. Tracy
Embracing the Medievalist Margin (161–168)
Alicia Spencer-Hall
The Medievalist's Soliloquy: Struggles and Advice for Lone Medievalists (169–175)
Tiffany A. Ziegler
Reflections of an Embarrassed Medievalist (177–188)
Michael David Elam
The Unicorn Learns Accountability (189–197)
Misty Urban
How to Stop Being a Lonely Medievalist (199–204)
M. Wendy Hennequin
Blended Medievalist Careers: Staying Optimistic While Balancing Passion and Job Market Realities (205–220)
Timothy R.W. Jordan, Aubri Anne McVey
A Study of the Unexpected: The Advantages of Being the "Lone Medievalist" (221–225)
Nikolas O. Hoel
Saga Thing and the Benefits of Podcasting the Medieval (227–246)
Andrew M. Pfrenger
Building Your Own Villa (249–258)
Jane Chance
Twice Marginal and Twice Invisible: On Being the Lone Medievalist Twice in One State (259–265)
Michelle M. Sauer
Pushing Boundaries: Making the Medieval Relevant through Public History and Engagement On and Off Campus (267–279)
Amber Handy
Brought to You by Your Friendly Campus Medievalist (281–288)
Lee Templeton
Down with Dante and Chaucer? Navigating a Great Books Curriculum as a Medievalist (289–304)
Sarah Harlan-Haughey
Of sondry folk: What I Learned After My First Year as the Lone Medievalist on Campus (305–310)
Ann M. Martinez
The Collaborative Medievalist (311–318)
Courtney Rydel
Make Yourself at Home (319–337)
John P. Sexton
Notes from the North (341–354)
Laura Saetveit Miles
Being a Medievalist in an A-medieval Country and in Region Overcrowded with Medievality: Two Stories from Brasil and Western Balkans (355–360)
Ardian Muhaj
Is the Academic Medievalist Alone? (361–364)
Kouky J. Fianu
A Philosopher's Approach to Being a Lone Medievalist (365–368)
Pilar Herráiz Oliva
A Lone Medievalist on the Island (369–372)
Christine E. Kozikowski
Backmatter (373–380)
Kisha G. Tracy, John P. Sexton
Biographies
Kisha G. Tracy is co-founder of The Lone Medievalist. She is associate professor of English Studies and Co-Coordinator of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts. Her main research interests include medieval memory and confession, medieval disability, and higher education pedagogy.
John P. Sexton is co-founder of The Lone Medievalist. He is associate professor of English at Bridgewater State University and co-host of the Saga Thing podcast. His research interests include Old Norse literature and culture, Anglo-Saxon literature and culture, and medieval disability studies.
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Genres
- Humanities+University
- Pedagogies
- Premodern
Keywords
- intellectual life
- marginality
- medieval studies
- pedagogy
- university studies