Hood College Chaucerians

" Our old-style position that objectivist neutrality is where medievalists should be no longer works, because it facilitates white supremacists/white nationalists/KKK/Nazis and their horrific deployment of the Middle Ages"  -Dorothy Kim "Teaching Medieval Studies in a Time of White Supremacy"  " The tale, like other crusading romances, demands to be understood through the lens of a medieval notion of racial identity that is characterized by religious and political difference." -Cord Whitaker "Race and Racism: The Man of Law's Tale" 

"Such engaged public activity and activism will not go unpunished, to be sure, and DK has had numerous altercations with those who disagree with her views, especially those gate-keeping individuals who feel comfortable with a narrow and exclusivist definition of our scholarly field." -Richards Utz:  "See something, say something" "Immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers understand Custance’s predicament as literal, and they find that this protagonist from another age and an unfamiliar culture validates and mitigates the loneliness, disassociation, fear, and shame of migration." -Pamela Troyer: " Canterbury Trails: Walking with Immigrants, Refugees, and the Man of Law" https://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/90383266.html

"Put simply: if you believe that public scholars are doing something that is necessary for the continuing health and popularity of our discipline, then you owe them your support when their work brings an abusive backlash." -- Sara Bond and Donna Zuckerberg "Support isn't a zero-sum game: withholding it from someone you consider privileged doesn't mean you'll have more to give to someone less privileged." -- Sara Bond and Donna Zuckerberg Quotes taken from "Whose Job Is It to Support a Harassed Scholar?" By Donna Zuckerberg

"Color and other biological markers are attached to groups of people in ways that might initially seem unfamiliar to modern readers but in ways that signify racial differentiation." Race and Ethnicity: Saracens and Jews in Middle English Literature 

     Oh my God! God is everywhere in this tale... I agree with Amanda that this story is almost like an advertisement for Christianity. I think that Custaunce is named strategically and is meant to represent the constant presence of God and of the religion of Christianity. After all, she is the sole reason that the Sultan wanted to convert himself and everyone to followers of God! The Sultan fell in love with Custaunce because of how the merchants described her to him - he never laid eyes on her. Similarly, Christianity is not a tangible thing, it can only be described and talked about. Also, when the Sultan's mother is plotting her revenge, she is described as a snake, which is reminiscent of the serpent in Eden that represents sin and deception. When this serpent woman carries out her sneaky plan, Cunstaunce (AKA Christianity) is the only survivor. Hm...coincidence?