Hi #medievaltwitter - after watching the #maawebinar on Race, Racism, and Teaching the Middle Ages I thought I'd offer some suggestions on studies of race and art, following the first question posed in the Q&A. This is a thread! 1/

For those who don't know me I'm an art historian working on European images of Blackness from the 10th-12th centuries. This bibliography and I spend a lot of time together 2/

As @Nahir_Otano mentioned, the Middle Ages is 1000 years, so we need to be careful about over-simplification. With that, I've tried to offer some variety here. This is NOT comprehensive, only an introduction. 3/

@letfancyroam asked "When, where, and why were religious differences mapped onto the color of skin?" YES. This is a great question to keep in mind when approaching medieval images. Not all the texts here do this. 4/

Nevertheless, for art historians and anyone else looking for studies of images, either for research or for syllabi, here are some starting points, in alphabetical order of author's last name: 5/

Madeline Caviness. “From the Self Invention of the Whiteman in the Thirteenth Century to The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” (2008) A good introduction to intentional uses of whiteness as a marker of 'morality.' 6/

Geraldine Heng, "An African Saint in Medieval Europe" in Sainthood and Race (2015). On 13th century Maurice sculpture in Magdeburg, strong intro to the intersections of Blackness, patronage, and political power. 7/

Sara Lipton Dark Mirror (2014) surveys the long history of images of Jews in medieval art. A great study on images of Jews and how markers of race/identity can accumulate new meanings over time 8/

Pamela Patton. “An Ethiopian-Headed Serpent in the Cantigas de Santa Maria: Sin, Sex, and Color in Late Medieval Castile,” (2016). Good exploration on Blackness and gender in an Iberian context. 9/

The Image of the Black Vol 2. Pt 1 spans from about 5th-13th century, Pt 2 apx 13th-15th. Breadth is the name of the game. If you want a glimpse of the wide range of ways that Black people were depicted, this is it. 10/

These can help open the door into thinking about images and how race and alterity were visualized in the Middle Ages. However, If I could make one impassioned plea, it would be to look to other fields too! 11/

To -really- get into the nuances of these images, and to think of them not always as mere representations of actual people but as conscious iconographic choices made under specific social and political circumstances... 12/

Comparing them to studies on medieval texts is really useful. Medieval lit scholars (esp. BIPOC scholars) are leading the way here, and their work is in many ways as relevant to texts as they are to images. 13/

G. Heng's Invention of Race in the Middle Ages, C. Whitaker's Black Metaphors, and S. Lomuto's 2019 essay on the King of Tars are great texts on medieval race and the work that race does that could be paired with something like the IBWA to better contextualize those images 14/

The recent bib from @ISASaxonists and @erik_kaars is critical here too. Short sweet and to the point. These texts are essential for all medievalists, regardless of discipline https://medium.com/@mrambaranolm/race-101-for-early-medieval-studies-selected-readings-77be815f8d0f 15/

This bib includes scholars all medieval art historians should be reading too - Like Du Bois, who wrote both on the Middle Ages and art, or Stuart Hall whose work on representation is essential. 16/

I'd also recommend using texts on mod/con issues of race and art. Pair them with something medieval, but for considering what images actually do when it comes to creating ideas about race, mod/con is the place to look. 17/

Richard Dyer's intro to The Matter of Images is a succinct starting point for examining the effects that images and stereotypes have on shaping their audience's views of those depicted peoples in real life. 18/

Kirk Savage's Standing Soldiers Kneeling Slaves is a good introductory text to monuments, race, and power, a great comparison for thinking about medieval monumental sculpture. 19/

Tina Campt's Image Matters is an amazing study on agency and identity-making in photography, as well as what an image can and can't do. Would recommend even though photography of course is not a medieval medium. 20/

These authors aren't medievalists, but their texts open up ways of thinking about the role of images within the history of racial formation that much medieval scholarship hasn't quite been able to do, yet. Keyword: yet! 21/

In sum: start with the art historians to find your footing, but do not stop there. Stay reading, friends! And good luck with your Fall teaching. I hope you and your students stay healthy. /end.