GSA 2023: Premodern Representations of Race (800–1700) and their Reception in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, Montreal (02.03.2023)

The past decade has seen an expanding turn to Critical Race Studies within medieval studies, highlighting the importance of the concept through the context of what has been traditionally considered a time “before race.” While German Studies has not produced a similarly broad body of scholarship as French and English Studies, there has been sustained interest in critical race studies. This interest has led to a more prominent positioning of applying and revising the findings of CRS to our field (see the recent special issue of the German Quarterly on Black German Studies). It is essential to examine this discourse's long history and roots. In the seminar, we will look at representations of race in premodern primary sources. The reception of this material and its impact on the formation of German studies in the 18th and 19th centuries are of further importance. We hope this seminar can foster a dialogue beyond the GSA by bringing together scholars working on the topic in various disciplines to establish an interdisciplinary network spanning literature, history, religion, art history, and more.

Format: Each participant will draft a 1000–1200-word discussion paper focusing on a specific case /question (papers due August 15th), which will then be pre-circulated together with two scholarly articles.

Please submit an abstract (500 words max) and a short biography (300 words max) through the GSA OpenWater platform by March 2nd. Please contact Tina Boyer (boyertm@wfu.edu) and Annegret Oehme (oehme@uw.edu) with any questions about this seminar.

Please note that all participants must be members of the GSA at the time of submission.