A statement from Seeta Chaganti on #kzoo2018 and #kzoo2019 and the future of medieval studies. On the Medievalists of Color blog -
A few thoughts:
While I do not for see a future in which I go back to this conference for many reasons, I remain deeply concerned with the future of my field. Over the past few weeks, as most of you know, Yiannopoulos used an online donation to send Nazi iconography to a Jewish journalist and urged violence against journalists. It is of course complicated. But siding with protection of vulnerable faculty, siding against the Nazi iconographer and inciter of violence, is a low low bar. I know where I stand.
Medieval organizations continue not to take seriously the threat of a medievalist allying with him.
The future of medieval studies is not set. It’s worth working for.
