Cord Whitaker, Duke English Ph.D. alum and Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing at Wellesley College, was invited to give a virtual talk on March 12 by the Duke English Ad-Hoc Committee on Anti-racism. Whitaker was invited as one of two special guests to give talks during the Spring 2021 semester. On this spring-like Friday afternoon, approximately 50 attendees joined Whitaker and the committee for his virtual presentation entitled "From Medieval America to Modern": On Being BIPOC and Making Meaning in White Disciplinary Spaces."
The Ad-Hoc Committee on Anti-racism was formed at the end of last summer to demonstrate that Black Lives Matter in the English department. The department believes that by focusing on anti-Black racism, we will also make important progress in addressing other forms of bias and learning how studying literary and cultural texts give us uniquely valuable tools for this work. Professor Tsitisi Jaji, the committee's chair, shared that two things Rob Mitchell, departmental chair, specifically requested of the committee were to draft recommendations for the department and to organize two intellectual events that advance antiracism. Professor Jaji shared that the committee felt it was important to engage the full range of departmental interests. Hence, they focused on periods that students might not immediately recognize as anti-racist when planning these talks. One of the visions for these talks is to facilitate building relationships across the faculty.
“The ad hoc committee on anti-racism was thrilled to have Professor Cord Whitaker, a medievalist and critical race scholar, not only because his research has been garnering very positive reviews including a recent public conversation about his new book with Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, but also because he completed his Ph.D. at Duke. His presentation was both an intellectual autobiography and an exploration of how anti-racism has informed his teaching.” – Professor Tsitsi Jaji
Whitaker completed his Ph.D. in English at Duke University in 2009. His book Black Metaphors: How Modern Racism Emerged from Medieval Race-Thinking was published in 2019. Whitaker's work often centers on medieval literature and history, focusing on the Middle Ages and their influence on the modern-day.
During his presentation, Professor Whitaker shared his intellectual journey and his dual passions for African American and medieval English literature, which have made him a well sought-after expert in the field of critical medieval race studies. In his presentation, Whitaker offered ways for a person of color to address racial inequality and to find their place in an underrepresented field, a field that might even be unwelcoming.
To begin his presentation, Whitaker shared a dream that he had when he was around five years old, in which he was a knight who slew a giant, green dragon. He offers this as a metaphor for his success as a Black man who has become an expert in medieval studies, a field dominated by non-minorities. The feeling of alienation Whitaker described has prevented many Black Americans from studying fields like Classics and Medieval Studies. What mattered to Whitaker when selecting a field was finding something that he felt was relevant to him. The literature and culture of romance in medievalist study meshed with the dream he had as a young boy, helping him find his own identity within the field.
Whitaker mentioned that his students often are surprised to learn on the first day of class that their medievalist professor is a Black man. He noted that this often works to his advantage as it piques their interest in the question that arises once the shock has worn off: "Where were Black people during the middle ages?" Whitaker also shared with teachers in the audience that he finds it very helpful to present this, and any other material that he teaches, by first asking "What will make this material relevant to students?" Several times during his presentation, he encouraged the audience to use their identity-focused perspective to better understand other teachers and students: "Put yourself in someone else’s shoes!" While it is impossible to truly inhabit another person’s vantage point, instructors can try, nevertheless, to approach understanding in the classroom. Whitaker argued that "openly engaging your own identity perspective [helps] students feel free to engage theirs."
"Cord was always a lively presence when he was a graduate student at Duke many years ago, and he has gone on to have a stellar career. Cord's work on race before racialization is an important contribution to medieval studies. Cord is a splendid and engaging speaker, and it was thrilling to have him back here at Duke." - Professor Sarah Beckwith, who was a member of Whitaker’s dissertation committee.
Whitaker shared that his new project looks at how leading figures in the Harlem Renaissance used medievalism for racial justice. This project was born from an experience he had as a member of the Lawnside History Society in his hometown, Lawnside, New Jersey. The Lawnside History Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Lawnside's heritage as a uniquely African American town. The Local Arts Program of the New Jersey Council on the Arts provided the society with funds to celebrate one of the town's great daughters, Jessie Redmon Fauset, a widely published novelist during the Harlem Renaissance period. In 2011 Whitaker was voluntold that he would be the keynote for the town's annual celebration. While researching Fauset for the celebration, Whitaker learned that her works were full of medievalism elements.
Access a full recording of Professor Cord Whitaker's talk "From Medieval America to Modern": On Being BIPOC and Making Meaning in White Disciplinary Spaces" here.
Duke English and the Ad Hoc Committee on Anti-racism will be hosting Professor Derrick Spires on March 30, 2021. Professor Spires will be sitting down virtually with Duke English Professor Jarvis McInnis to discuss Spires' book The Practice of Citizenship: Black Politics and Print Culture in the Early United States. Professor Derrick Spires, a prominent scholar, was recently awarded his field’s premier prize for a first book from the Modern Language Association, along with multiple other recognitions. His research encompasses Black thinkers from the 18th century to the Civil War. As one review puts it, “The Practice of Citizenship is a rare and important book that analyzes how Black people conceived and practiced citizenship in spaces including—and perhaps especially—beyond the nation-state form . . . It is as much a theory of contested spaces as it is a philosophy of community” (Modern Philology). Since many scholars of Black studies focus on the postbellum era, one of Duke English’s own early Americanists, Pricilla Wald, recommended Spires as a guest speaker with an antebellum focus. You can register for Professor Derrick Spires’ talk, to be held at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30, here.
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