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#BlackAcademicWoman #ShakespeareStudies #EarlyModernEnglishCulturalStudies I have my coffee.
This is a long thread so grab whatever you want to drink and pull up a chair. I offer no apology for its length or why I have no patience for this
This is a long thread so grab whatever you want to drink and pull up a chair. I offer no apology for its length or why I have no patience for this
My critique is born of 1 part ire, 1 part dismay, 1 part personal, and 1 part why white supremacy in academia is insidious. Academia is especially adept when it comes to policing the Black body in history and in actual institutions.
We’re familiar with "blame the Black scholar (tenure denial) for failing to meet expectations.” Institutional “I did my part for diversity, she/he/they just weren’t up to our standards” usually gets pinned on the Black academic’s research.
No institution readily admits that it exploits Black labor to the advantage of white faculty. Research grants, leave time, freedom from service are gifted unevenly. Untenured Black (& IPOC) faculty do the most service for the least research return.
That Black academic denied: their research focused on the history of enslaved people in early modern England. Their voice is silenced and a new voice (white) rises to fill the academic and research spot.
Does the scholar research race as whiteness? Nope. They appropriate the Black academic's research. Will scholar deny the originality of their work or at least situate it in relation to the history of Black research on premodern Black peoples? Yes and no.
There were no "unique authoritative voices" prior to his/hers/theirs. Besides, "what I’m doing is more significant because no one has framed the question this way" or "we need a 'public humanities voice' on the topic."
But what about...? "I’ve cited them." New archival work? "No, I used the sources already available." Does it bother you that Black scholars did the work to make these sources available to you? "I’m eternally grateful for their labor; what I do is different."
How is your work different, more significant, more authoritative?
It was suggested in a tweet that @BBCHistoryMag is at fault. Yes and no. Despite assertions to the contrary there is no lack of Black voices, US and UK, to speak on premodern Black English peoples’ lives. No excuse @BBCHistoryMag or Emily Weissbourd et al.
Black scholars working on premodern Black peoples' histories are discoverable, especially since most of our work is all over the internet, in scholarly publications, on the Folger Library’s website, on UK early modern websites, and #ShakeRace.
What’s egregious, and self-serving in these takes, is the white academic’s unwillingness to defer to Black scholarly voices. To be seen as an expert in “premodern race studies” outweighs any real commitment to the dismantling of academic white supremacy.
To silence your "public humanities" voice in favor of a Black "public humanities" voice who started the field? On whose research you’ve established your career? Do you recognize each time you write/speak on the issue you're policing a Black academic body?
I’ve come to the conclusion citation is not enough. It is merely another means to effect/sustain white control over BIPOC academic research. To regulate our voices not just to the margins, but to make of us shadow puppets that validate your work.
Premodern white academics, when asked to speak/write about premodern race, premodern BIPOC peoples, about the weight of African enslavement on English settler colonialism, about the erasure of BIPOC sovereignty over their bodies and their lands: Refuse.
Make your colleagues/peers the public voice on this topic. Direct the requestor to the academic descendants of the enslaved, the indigenous, and the colonized who have researched/published on the issues.
Silence your white voices, defund your privilege to speak for us all. We really don't need you to do so. Nor do our ancestors. White premodern colleagues, this is how you end academic white supremacy...if you’re truly an ally. Periodt
*All of this will end up in a publication so don't worry about typos; a proofreader will catch them. Worry about the content instead.
Signed Margo Hendricks, Professor in early modern English literature and culture (just in case you're wondering)
Signed Margo Hendricks, Professor in early modern English literature and culture (just in case you're wondering)
