Richard Landes wrote:
>having tried to give medievalists a presence at the FHS last year at BU,
>let me say it is (not) a thankless task, but very hard. we had 0
>proposals for medieval sessions and i had to rustle some up. this is too
>bad. it is impt for us (and them modernists) to keep the lines of
>communication open; and the most successful session was the one in which
>we had a panel of historians discussing what the MA has to offer the
>"modern" French historian. even the initially skeptical chair
Let me strongly second Richard's point, and amplify it a bit. It is very
important for pragmatic as well as intellectual reasons for medievalists to
appear at these meetings. "Them Modernists" are all too often convinced
that medieval history is of no real significance. In times of budget
cutting (such as the present) this attitude can lead to the reduction of
support for medieval programs. In my own department, we have recently lost
a medieval position, with the money from that line being used to hire
another modernist. I have spoken to colleagues at other universities who
have suddenly become the only medievalist (and sometimes the only person
doing anything before 1800) among a very large number of people doing
modern stuff. When we lose the respect of our colleagues in other fields
we also lose jobs, folks. That's one reason why I am so concerned about
the re-play of Richard's dilemma from last year: as of this week, NO
medieval proposals have been received by the FHS program committee. PLEASE
send those proposals in!
Megan
Megan McLaughlin,Associate Professor of History and Women's Studies
History Dept., Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
309 Gregory Hall, 810 S. Wright St., Urbana, IL 61801
Tel: 217-244-2084 Fax: 217-333-2297
E-MAIL: [log in to unmask]
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