A New Politics of the Middle Ages: A Global Middle Ages for a Global Modernity

Abstract

This paper outlines the new politics of the Middle Ages in an age of ‘global modernity’, a term coined by Arif Dirlik to describe the appearance of ‘alternative’ or ‘multiple’ modernities. The politics of the Middle Ages has been recognised by a number of medieval and postcolonial scholars who have understood the role that the category of the Middle Ages has played in the historic construction of Western modernity and Western imperialism. This political use of the Middle Ages in constructing Western imperialism and modernity was underpinned by the colonial discourse identified by Johannes Fabian as the ‘denial of coevalness’. Yet, in an age of multiple modernities, we need to understand the changing political frontiers of multiple medievalisms. This paper indicates the particular way in which radical Islamist movements, especially ISIL, use and relate to the Islamic past and calls for further analysis of the new politics of the Middle Ages. This paper discusses the global turn and the shift in the politics of the Middle Ages, from the denial of coevalness to contemporaneity, and signposts problems and future directions that this shift indicates for medieval history.

World(‐)Systems, West Africa, and the Global Middle Ages

“…Terminologically rigid Eurocentrism, intentional or otherwise, can hinder analysis and shape inaccurate narratives (Wells, 2015, p. 436). Still, Europeanists studying the Middle Ages are best positioned to reevaluate traditional narratives of European history in light of emerging global evidence (McClure, 2015, p. 616). R. I. Moore has demonstrated, for example, how taking significant historically change conventionally accepted to be specific to Europe and broadening the lens of analysis can be a fruitful way to identify the full extent of global historical change (2004, p. 79; see also Lopez et al., 1970, p. 93).…”

Becoming Through Milling: Challenging Linear Economic Narratives in Medieval England

“…For medieval archaeology, this philosophy requires us to question our ideas of the Middle Ages, to challenge the extent to which the period can be characterized as a singularity and develop new approaches to revealing multiplicity and complexity. There is a growing awareness of this challenge across medieval studies; as McClure (2015, 616) states; ‘in our age of multiple modernities, we must explore the history of our multiple medievalisms’. Rather than creating a clear divide between medieval and modern, or tracing incremental development between these states, an emphasis on difference and multiplicity allows us to identify resonances and threads through which experiences can be related.…”

Polemical Comparisons in Discourses of Religious Diversity: Conceptual Remarks and Reflexive Perspectives

“…For a thought-provoking argument about the shifting temporal politics in the age of global modernity, see McClure (2015). 32…”