POSTMEDIEVAL STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR DR. MARY RAMBARAN-OLM

6th May 2022

We, the undersigned members of the postmedieval editorial team, want to express our support for Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm in the face of the racism that has been directed at her. The mishandling of her review and the public discourse in its aftermath have made us reflect anew on how structural inequities, and ugly prejudice, pervade both academia and publishing. Her scholarship and activism have made visible the latent power dynamics that structure medieval studies and crucially have made those dynamics available for critique and contestation. We are proud to have published her scholarship, and, as articles in our most recent issue make clear, her writing is important to the authors publishing with us. Over the last two weeks, many scholars, especially scholars of color and contingent faculty, have reacted with hurt and fury to the diminishment of Dr. Rambaran-Olm's scholarly credentials and the inappropriate questioning of her racial identity. We stand together in seeking to build a future in which scholars of color and contingent faculty are supported against racism, precarity, and gate-keeping while they carry out their transformational work. We pledge to continue mobilizing the journal as a vehicle to create this future. 

Signed (alphabetically)

Jack Chen, postmedieval board member

Lara Farina, postmedieval board member

Adam Goldwyn, postmedieval board member

Emily Guerry, postmedieval board member

Sarah Ifft Decker, postmedieval board member

Shazia Jagot, postmedieval co-editor

Sam Lasman, postmedieval board member

Nicole Lopez-Jantzen, postmedieval board member

Julie Orlemanski, postmedieval co-editor

Francesca Petrizzo, postmedieval managing editor

Sara Ritchey, postmedieval co-editor

Steven Swarbrick, postmedieval board member

Elizabeth Upton, postmedieval board member