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I am certain that 99.9% of researchers, using the term A-S, use it to refer to the people and material culture of early medieval England. I am confident they do not set out with the intention to offend, but the problem is that this is not the only interpretation of the term. 1/12
Everyone knows that the term is used by white supremacists as a way refer to white people. Their use of the term aims to provide a romanticised origin myth for a ‘pure’ white race of people rooted in history. 2/12
It is often argued by British researchers that this is a North American problem. I’ve often seen it said that the term isn’t used this way in the UK; that it is only used to refer to Early Medieval societies. 3/12
It isn’t difficult to show this isn’t true. Here’s a recent article by Nick Cohen in the Guardian. The article talks about, “A-S countries” and the, “exceptionalism of the A-S west”. We all know what the term means in this context. 4/12 https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jan/16/if-trump-looks-like-a-fascist-and-acts-like-a-fascist-then-maybe-he-is-one
It’s not explained in the article, because the author knows that we know what it means. He knows we know, because it is embedded in the UK psyche; And it means, ‘white North European’ or ‘WASP’. 5/12
Try this experiment. Search A-S in twitter and look at the people tab. At first, they all seem quite benign but scroll just a short way and you soon find the accounts become a lot more problematic. White English nationalism begins to show its face. 6/12
The debate around the use of the term is not that researchers are being overtly racist in using it. The issue is that the term is tarnished by white supremacy and has the potential to lead the innocent to toward problematic content online or to misinterpret what they have read. 7
The world is highly connected and it’s not possible to police all automated linking. Imagine this scenario: a child doing their A-S homework; They watch a video and the algorithm offers them a follow-up, “You watched A-S for schools how about watching A-S the master race”. 8/12
Terms change all the time. Changing to an alternative term will not invalidate previous scholarship; Researchers will use their research skills. Nothing will be lost; Our understanding of the period will not be affected. The public will not lose part of their history. 9/12
The term has multiple meanings. Some problematic. It is just words. It's not a war. It's not a fight. It's not a personal attack. The aim is not to diminish you. It is a request. A request to disassociate the period from the alternative, problematic uses of the term 10/12
The term A-S has been used in the oppression of a group in society. I hear this group saying this and I think we should take them at their word for, after all, our discipline is to research the past and, if we can’t see the injustice, how will others? 11/12
There is a lot of heat associated with this debate and I do not want to fight. For this reason, I post this as a statement. I will not debate. If you respond, I will not reply. If it remains important to you to continue using it, I ask only for you to consider why. 12/12
