New Directions in Medieval Postcolonialism

In the first phase of medieval postcolonialism in the late 1990s and early 2000s, substantial scholarship explored intersections and points of friction between medieval studies and postcolonial theory—yet engagement with the larger field of postcolonial studies was limited in scope. Connections between medieval and postcolonial studies have, moreover, expanded very little over the last decade, a period in which the “postcolonial” has been displaced by the “global” as the dominant framework for exploring premodern cross-cultural relations. This special issue introduces new postcolonial voices, paradigms, and analytical methods into medieval studies. It aims to enlarge the conceptual and theoretical arsenal used by medievalists to understand cultural contact in the distant past; to invite new ways of thinking about the relations between the medieval and modern; and to advance urgent conversations on premodern race, Mediterranean history, and the global Middle Ages.

Contributors: Anthony Bale, Christine Chism, Michael Cornett, Marcel Elias, Sharon Kinoshita, Karla Mallette, Sierra Lomuto, Rachel Schine