| Abstrakt: |
The Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship was founded in 1985 in response to a perceived lack of support in the field of medieval studies for feminist inquiry and teaching. Since its inception, the organization has sought to provide support and community for scholars engaged in gender and sexuality studies broadly through a variety of initiatives, including conference sessions; the society journal, originally the Medieval Feminist Bulletin and now called Medieval Feminist Forum ; prizes for Best Article, Best Book, and Best Graduate Student Essay; fellowship and grant support; and a mentoring program. Despite these initiatives, a membership process open to any interested individuals, and ongoing efforts to be inclusionary in practice, the organization has suffered from a perception of its being exclusionary and insular in nature, and because of increased targeted attacks on marginalized scholars and populations, including those teaching and researching gender and sexuality studies, disability studies, and critical race studies, efforts to engage intersectionally have led to a fragmenting of the society's membership and focus that it struggles to address. This article evaluates the society's past and present relationship with its membership, the Medieval Academy of America (MAA), and medieval studies, engaging in archival and ethnographic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
