Past Workshops (Fall 2020 – Spring 2023)
April 25th, 2023 “Always Here: origins, goals, challenges—and the place of Old English in the queer+trans Middle Ages” Facilitated by Bridget Whearty and Masha Raskolnikov
Abundant LGBTQ+ sources exist from the medieval period. But there is no up-to-date, organized collection that makes these rich materials accessible. Bridget Whearty and Masha Raskolnikov are in the early stages of creating “Always Here: a Queer+Trans Global Medieval Sourcebook,” a massive OER that will gather LGBTQ+ sources from around the world, from c.250-c.1550. In this talk, they demonstrated why we cannot simply remix existing translations and editions, discussed the difficulties of working with bigoted and harmful historical sources, and explored the parameters of inclusion and exclusion when accurate global historical representation is the goal.
March 3rd, 2023 “Translating as a Bædling: Queer Translation of Old English in Theory & Practice” Facilitated by Aaron Hostetter and Denis Ferhatović
In an academic regime driven by rigor, what would it mean to willingly assume a position of softness? To come at a textual experience “hnēsclice swa forlegene” (soft as an adultress) or, per the Poenitentiale Theodori and building on the suggestion by Christopher Vaccaro, as a bædling? In this workshop, we experimented with “Queer Translation” — a way to uncover new possibilities in ancient texts through openness, penetrability, multiplicity, while refusing respectability, renouncing heritage, seeking strange connections across temporal boundaries, and most of all, courting failure at every step. And looking fierce while doing it all.
December 8th, 2022 “Old French Pedagogy: Intersections with Old English” Facilitated by Lynn Ramey and Jacob Abell
This workshop overviewed Lynn and Jacob’s NEH-funded project to create immersive learning environments for Old French, and what it might portend for teaching endangered or dead languages. In the second half of the session, Ramey and Abell provided hands-on instruction on how to use Twine to create interactive narratives for teaching.
October 14th, 2022: “Current challenges and future paths in Old English Studies” Facilitated by Francisco Rozano-García
This online workshop brought together participants from three Old English organizations, Teachers of Old English in Britain and Ireland (TOEBI), the Spanish Society for Medieval English Language and Literature (SELIM), and Disinventing Old English (DOE), to discuss the current challenges and obstacles faced by those involved in or wishing to access Old English teaching and learning.
February 24th, 2022: “Old English and Transgender Studies” Facilitated by Kristen Carella
This workshop considered the implications of describing gender identity and gender performances in the medieval past, whether in research or in a classroom that may include students who identify as transgender (openly or not).
Readings:
Caroline Epple, “Coming to Terms with Navajo ‘nádleehí’: A Critique of ‘berdache,’ ‘Gay,’ ‘Alternate Gender,’ and ‘Two-Spirit.’” American Anthropologist 25.2 (1998), pp. 267-290.
Christopher Knüsel and Kathryn Ripley, “The Berdache or Man-woman in Anglo-Saxon England and Early Medieval Europe.” In Social Identity in Early Medieval Britain, ed. William O. Frazer and Andrew Tyrrell (London: Leicester University Press, 2000), pp. 157-191.
Kristen Carella, “Transgender Identity and Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Twelfth-Century Vita Merlini.” In Transgender Literary Theory and Criticism, ed. Douglas A. Vakoch, [forthcoming].
October 29th, 2021: “Neurodiversity in the Old English Classroom” Facilitated by Jason Thames and Renée Trilling
In this workshop, participants considered accessibility as a central pillar of Old English pedagogy. In advance of the workshop, participants prepared by reading a few short pieces that define forms of neurodiversity and frame some of the challenges our classrooms might present, and the workshop began with a short video that offered perspectives on the experiences of neurodivergent students.
Readings:
Robison, John Elder, and Karin Wulf. “Neurodiversity in the Classroom.” The Academic’s Handbook, Fourth Edition, Duke University Press, 2020, pp. 189–92, doi:10.1515/9781478012641-023.
Shmulsky, Solvegi, et al. “Culturally Relevant Pedagogy for Neurodiversity.” Community College Journal of Research and Practice (2021), pp. 1–5, doi:10.1080/10668926.2021.1972362.
Pirogova, Nadezhda. “Implementation of Inclusive Approach to Teaching English as a Foreign Language.” Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research (2018), pp. 91-5, doi:10.2991/ictppfms-18.2018.17.
September 10th, 2021: “Public Engagement” Facilitated by Fran Allfrey, Mike Bintley, Jenny Neville, Beth Whalley
In this workshop, participants shared experiences of public engagement activities and shared ambitions, opportunities, and barriers to public engagement. It enabled participants to think about why public engagement is important particularly for Old English and to leave with an idea of a public engagement activity, and some of the opportunities, risks, rewards, and practical approaches to keep in mind.
Readings:
Finding Eanswythe project website https://findingeanswythe.uk/
Catherine Clarke’s Reuters Lecture on “Making places: heritage, renewal and site-specific medievalism” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO8guajz95Q
The introduction of Clare Lees and Gillian Overing, The Contemporary Medieval in Practice, Open Access from UCL Press https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/116928
TOEBI Newsletter volume 29, write up on first LASS, pp. 14-16.
University of St Andrews, Medieval Poetry in the Modern World REF case study https://impact.ref.ac.uk/casestudies/CaseStudy.aspx?Id=35304
May 21th, 2021: “Thinking Through a Cultural History of Old English: Approaches and Contexts” Facilitated by Emma Hitchcock, Mary Kate Hurley, and Elaine Treharne
This workshop considered the phenomenology of cultural artifacts: their intentionality, materiality, how they exist in the real world, and how we can approach them and enliven them in the classroom.
Readings:
“Teaching to Transgress” by bell hooks
Riddles and Materialism by Aaron Hostetter
March 5th, 2021: Old English and Indigenous Languages Facilitated by Tarren Andrews and Stephen Yeager
In this workshop, participants will reflect on and discuss the language recreation practices of Indigenous communities and their implications for Old English pedagogy, proceeding from Robin Kimmerer’s concept of “the grammar of animacy.”
Readings:
Haruko Momma From Philology to English Studies
Robin Kimmerer, Learning the Grammar of Animacy
January 29th, 2021 Current Old English Pedagogies Facilitated by Donna Beth Ellard and Emily Sun
This workshop asks the following questions: How do current Old English resources “pitch” Old English? What do they assume about their students/users, and to whom are they appealing? Do they seem to have any particular “politics”? How accessible are these tools?
Disinventing Old English 