What will this project produce?

We anticipate several collaborative publications to come out of the Disinventing Old English research project. We will develop: a Textbook and companion Workbook for Old English language learners; a companion Anthology of edited Old English texts that works in partnership with the textbook and workbook; and a series of Companion Essays that explore key issues in Old English language and literature such as dialectal diversity, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, inclusive pedagogies, and the future of early English studies. 

While we use the traditional language of “Textbook,” “Workbook,” “Anthology,” and “Companion Essays” to describe these student resources, we interpret their forms loosely, understanding that digital applications and visual media may be integral parts of these materials.

Likewise, we intend all of our products from this work to be open access; however, we are also committed to a careful peer-review process and classroom beta-testing that will ensure that the materials are of sufficient quality to serve as benchmarks in the discipline.

The above publications are long-term goals, and in order to meet them, we have planned a series of smaller outputs that enable participants of Disinventing Old English to develop, disseminate, and receive scholarly credit for the project’s work as it progresses:

  • In September 2020, DB and MK will hold informational sessions for prospective participants
  • In Fall 2020 and Spring 2021, conveners and presenters (who we hope to pay modest honoraria) will take us on the first steps of our collaborative research journey through a series of webinars
  • In Summer 2021, we will submit a multi-author collaborative essay to a special issue of a journal, in which we discuss research from working groups regarding links between traditional Old English pedagogy and its exclusionary politics
  • In Fall 2021, we will organize a conference seminar, in which groups meet and develop aspects of the textbook and workbook

Timeline

From now through October 2020, we will be soliciting participation in Disinventing Old English. 

Beginning in November 2020 and continuing through Spring 2021, we will hold a series of 4-6 webinar-style workshops, in which participants read and discuss articles of critical importance to the project’s development. Here is a list of potential workshops:

  • November: Collaboration and team-based research in the humanities
  • January: Pedagogies of Inclusion
  • March: Paradigm Dropping: radical Old English pedagogies that are already in practice
  • April: Learning from the Classics: second-language methods in Latin and Greek
  • May: The history of “Old English” nomenclature

In January or February 2021–midway through this workshop series–participants will organize themselves into teams, each of which will research a specific component of the project.

In Summer 2021, teams will outline actionable steps in their portion of the project.

In Fall 2021, teams will meet (virtually or in-person) at a conference seminar to share their work. During this seminar, participants will generate the conceptual “shape” of the Textbook, Workshop, and Anthology.

Collaboration

As a project that exceeds the individual expertise and vision of one or a handful of individuals; that challenges teachers of Old English to ask complex questions (of our pedagogy and of ourselves); and that aims for multiple research outcomes, Disinventing Old English takes a collaborative, team-based approach.

Collaboration, as Chirag Shah writes, is “a process involving various individuals who may see different aspects of a problem. They engage in a process that goes beyond their own individual expertise and vision to complete a task or project.”[29] While collaborative research is spurred by complex problems and the need for multiple areas of expertise, successful collaboration is not simply a matter of knowledge production. It is a mode of learning that is highly affective and therefore, at times, fraught with tension.[30] Consequently, Disinventing Old English first and foremost acknowledges “the importance of trust, rapport, and communication in developing productive relationships, the need for shared decision-making, and the value of synchronous, coordinated work for developing successful partnerships.”[31]

In order to organize a project with so many moving parts, collaborators will work in teams: groups of 4-5 individuals who research and complete a particular (smaller or larger) portion of the project. Teams can decide how they would like to meet, communicate, and work together.

Such a collaborative, team-based approach, we hope, will allow for many more individuals to participate, especially graduate students; postdoctoral, non-tenure track, and independent scholars; and community college and non-R1 faculty.

Citations

[29] Chirag Shah, “Collaborative Information Seeking: A Literature Review,” Advances in Librarianship 32 (2010): 6.

[30] Roberto González-Ibáñez, “Affective Dimension in Collaborative Information Seeking” in Preben Hansen, Chirag Shah, and Claus-Peter Klas, eds. Collaborative Information Seeking: Best Practices, New Domains, and New Thoughts (Springer: Cham, 2015), 193-208; Gabriele Griffin, Annelie Bränström-Öhman, and Hildur Kalman, eds. The Emotional Politics of Research Collaboration (New York: Routledge, 2013).

[31] Lisa M. Given and Rebekah Willson, “Collaboration, Information Seeking, and Technology Use: A Critical Examination of Humanities Scholars’ Research Practices,” in Preben Hansen, Chirag Shah, and Claus-Peter Klas, eds. Collaborative Information Seeking: Best Practices, New Domains, and New Thoughts (Springer: Cham, 2015), Section 8.2.2., 139-167.