Global Medievalism
An Introduction

This Element takes a decolonial approach to popular representations of the medieval period, emphasizing interconnections and mobilities.

Helen Young (Author), Kavita Mudan Finn (Author)

9781009113366, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 October 2022

82 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 0.5 cm, 0.14 kg

'As a brief account of how modern anglophone media racializes the Middle Ages, it offers some compelling insights, and it introduces readers to a rich spectrum of recent fiction by a diverse array of authors.' Sam Lasman, Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies

The typical vision of the Middle Ages western popular culture represents to its global audience is deeply Eurocentric. The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones imagined entire medievalist worlds, but we see only a fraction of them through the stories and travels of the characters. Organised around the theme of mobility, this Element seeks to deconstruct the Eurocentric orientations of western popular medievalisms which typically position Europe as either the whole world or the centre of it, by making them visible and offering alternative perspectives. How does popular culture represent medievalist worlds as global-connected by the movement of people and objects? How do imagined mobilities allow us to create counterstories that resist Eurocentric norms? This study represents the start of what will hopefully be a fruitful and inclusive conversation of what the Middle Ages did, and should, look like.

Introduction
Medieval Mobilities: Vikings
Dealing with Dragons: Two Approaches to Global Medievalist Epic
A World Elsewhere: Re-Imagining Global Medievalisms in Fantasy
Coda: Global Medievalism Redux.

Subject Areas: Popular culture [JFCA], Medieval history [HBLC1], Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500 [HBLC], European history [HBJD], General & world history [HBG]