Uchicago — English Department

marlowe1
Thu, 24 May 2018 15:36:33 +0000

Perhaps the present emphasis of the Department, as described by JHS above, is reflected in the “Open Letter” on the Department’s web page immediately preceding its description of both its Undergraduate Program and Graduate Program. The letter, which is signed by just about every member of the Department (it would be interesting to know why some didn’t sign it) refers to a “recent online dispute concerning white-nationalist appropriation of medieval symbols” and a particular threat made by someone (but whom?) at the University (or in the Department?) against “an untenured scholar of color”. It continues for some length stating unexceptionable truths about listening carefully and respecting the views of others and decries “bullying, racially charged attacks and the glorification of violence against those with whom one differs”. All well and good, but what exactly are they talking about at the University of Chicago? One has to wonder what event could have provoked such a solemn statement of what hardly needs stating. And is Chaucer now such a fraught subject that Chaucerians are called upon to demonstrate innocence of retrograde views? The last sentence needed a red pencil: “It is our responsibility as scholars not only to condemn and repudiate hatred expressed in speech and other forms of action, but to model forms of discussion that manage criticality in a spirit of open inquiry, committed to acknowledging and thinking through the difficult histories and difficult present in which we are all embedded.” More specificity, please. And is that the mission of scholarship? It’s an unexamined assumption that requires argument. Finally: avoid “criticality” at all costs.