Students will apply’ queer theory’ and ‘ critical race theory’ in the class
University of Minnesota students can learn about” trans saints” in a class on “intersectional feudal art”.
The group is “grounded in critical race theory, intersectionality, and gay idea” and considers the roles of “gender, gender, and race in the framework of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim cultures”, according to its program description.
The University of Minnesota Twin Cities ‘ Center for Medieval Studies often offers the school, which likewise covers “miraculous transformations, devilish hands, female artists and patrons, the’ terrible races’ of travel accounts, and gender-affirming surgeries”.
” In contrast to misconceptions of a uniform pale Western past, the reality of feudal Europe was diverse and complex, and its boundaries – physical, social, physical, and then – were in flux, as reflected in its physical and material culture”, the course description states.
The program is cross-listed in the past office. However, the story head, Professor Sarah Chambers, said it is never offered through her office and did not have more information to share.
The medieval research centre also did not respond to an email in the past year. The Fix could not get through via the telephone due to a busy message.
The Fix even reached out to UMN past professors Michael Lower and Katherine Reyerson via email for opinion on the course, but they did not respond. Both list study interests that may coincide with this program.
The College Fix asked for a version of the course and for cases of transgender souls.
However, a Christian background professor at the University of Chicago said more framework is needed for the statements made by the program.
” ‘ Transgender’ is, naturally, a current term, but, yes, there were saints whom we may now describe this way, with the same caveats that people used to use about the terms ‘ homosexual’ and’ homosexual’ being anachronistic”, Professor Rachel Brown told The Fix via email.
Brown, a medievalist, said the class likely touches on the figures of St. Joan of Arc, who cross dressed to appear more masculine, or St. Symeon the Theologian, who was believed to be a eunuch serving among other eunuch monks. However, Brown noted, these saints can only be loosely called” transgender” or “queer”.
Brown commented that for years academics have pursued the idea of medieval abbots as “mothering” their monks, or that Christians should follow the example of Mary as mother to Christ.
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Brown noted that this class is just one among many offered in the sphere of academia which is professedly against the traditional understanding of Church, European, and art history. Academics, she said, are taking a view of the past that assumes the superiority of modern thought.
Brown said that,” The problem in medieval studies is not that we have been ignoring the marginal and monstrous, it is that we have been failing to put the concern for the marginal and monstrous in context”.
Classes like this intersectional medieval art class, Brown thinks, miss the point about studying history as it actually occurred, rather than with a modern lens.
” That we care now about the marginal and monstrous”, Brown said, “is a direct effect of the medieval Christian insistence that even monsters like the ones described in the travel accounts were human beings to whom Jesus commanded the apostles to preach”.
The university offers other courses on gender and Christianity.
” The study of ancient material offers a space to acquire the skills of critical analysis of body and gender dynamics so that we can better understand the roles that the body and gender play in shaping our self-identity, social interaction, and societal structures”, according to the course description for” Gender and Body in Early Christianity”.
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IMAGE CAPTION AND CREDIT: Two people stand while dressed up in medieval costumes, Domenico Bandiera/Pexels
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