A Wrinkle in Medieval Time: Ironing out Issues Regarding Race, Temporality, and the Early English

Abstract:The field of Early English studies (formerly Anglo-Saxon studies) is both founded on and operates within the parameters of white supremacy. Currently, the field is grappling with questions concerning who it represents, how it reflects on the world, and likewise the boundaries of the period. This analysis investigates the history of the field, surveys its periodization dates, and interrogates our diminished understanding of this time in early medieval history, due in part to the field's continued restrictiveness and insistence on preserving white heritage myths. While outlining the historiography of the field and the early English period, this paper also tackles the erasure or downplaying of Black historical figures and Black scholars in medieval studies. Primarily centering the works of Stuart Hall, Frantz Fanon, Toni Morrison, and a number of postcolonial theorists, this essay examines the field's restrictiveness, gatekeeping, and whiteness, which has fed into ethnonationalism and anti-Blackness. Ultimately, this piece explores the undercurrent of racism prevalent in Early English studies which continues to undermine its potential as a field to provide a deeper and more enriching understanding of the past.