STUDIES IN MEDIEVALISM XXXIV: TRIBAL MEDIEVALISMS
Traditional applications of the word “tribal” in medievalism studies and elsewhere in academia have recently come under intense criticism and sometimes been censored. Yet, in broader cultural contexts, the term seems to be gaining ever greater currency as a synonym for group identity, particularly of a partisan nature. In that regard, what relevance does it have for medievalism? For medievalism studies? Does it accurately capture the way one or more communities within those fields are perceived by their own members and/or others? How, if at all, do these newer applications apply to the traditional uses of the term? How does the word relate to practices among medievalists, by medievalists with regard to their medieval sources, by scholars of medievalism with regard to their subjects, and among scholars of medievalism?