This round table offers the opportunity to discuss the myriad challenges facing teachers of medieval and medieval-themed works in light of the #metoo movement. The panel will discuss how teachers can best approach works that depict sexual harassment, explain the often-unsettling views expressed by narrators towards these incidents, and deal with students’ often-erroneous assumptions regarding this era as well as their own. Panelists also will consider the role an author’s personal history ought to play in teaching the writer’s oeuvre.
Dena Arguelles — “Medieval Times & the Me Too Movement” When creating The Medieval Times and Movie, my students research the Middle Ages and “Go Back in Time,” often creating a distinctly patriarchal atmosphere. Considering that a 2011 survey found 56% of young women in grades 7 - 12 reporting some type of sexual comments or harassment, I find their play puzzling.
Angela Weisl — “Textual Harrassment: How does Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale hold up in the #metoo Era?” Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale is often considered the perfect comedy, but viewed through the lens of contemporary concerns about sexual harassment, how do we view Nicholas and Absolon’s behavior? And does Alison’s treatment at the ending of the tale help us to form a response?
Mary Behrman– “What to make of Marie?: Teaching the Lais in the Era of #metoo”
Marie’s Lais present disquieting stories of victimized women that resonate in the #metoo era, and students often expect Marie to share their outrage. The moments when Marie lapses into a “she-had-it-coming” attitude consequently shocks them, providing an opportunity to analyze not only Marie’s contradictory responses but also the students’ own.
Diana Vecchio — “Secrets Hidden behind the Mist”
As a writer, Marian Zimmer Bradley has almost a cult following for her pagan feminist writings, specifically her novel The Mists of Avalon. In 2014 her children came forward with claims of abuse which received some attention at that time. However, in light of the #metoo movement, renewed interest in those claims along with her complicity in her second husband’s abuse of young boys has lead to further dissection of her novel as well as discussions of whether her works should be taught in courses and whether educators can or should separate an author’s personal life from her or his works.
About the presentersMary Behrman
Mary Behrman received her PhD in English from Emory University in 2004, where she wrote her dissertation, “Chaucer, Gower and the Vox Populi: Interpretation and the Common Profit in The Canterbury Tales and Confessio Amantis,” under the direction of John Bugge. She has had articles published in journals including The Chaucer Review and The Henry James Review. One of her essays, “The Waiting Game: Medieval Allusions and the Lethal Nature of Passivitiy in Ian McEwan’s Atonement,” appeared in the Winter 2010 volume of Studies in the Novel and stemmed from an essay first presented at MAPACA’s 2008 conference in Niagara Falls. Currently, Ms. Behrman teaches English courses at Kennesaw State University and serves as MAPACA’s president and the Co-Chair of the Medieval/Renaissance Area.
Angela Jane Weisl
Angela Jane Weisl is professor of English at Seton Hall University. She is the author of The Persistence of Medievalism: Narrative Adventures in Contemporary Culture (Palgrave 2003) and Conquering the Reign of Femeny: Gender and Genre in Chaucer’s Romance (D. S. Brewer 1999), and the co-author, with Tison Pugh, of Medievalisms: Making the Past in the Present (Routledge 2012). She has co-edited several volumes of work on medieval subjects and has published widely in collections on both medieval an medievalism topics.
Dena Hughes Arguelles
Dena Arguelles, MA is a full-time lecturer at Kean University. For the past decade, she has taught Composition, Literature, Great Books, and Interdisciplinary Courses such as Creating AnOther: The Construction of Monsters.
Diana Vecchio
Diana Vecchio is an Assistant Teaching Professor of English and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies Widener University in Chester, PA. Her primary area of research is knightly codes in Arthurian literature.