A New Politics of the Middle Ages

A Global Middle Ages for a Global Modernity

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12732002
AutoresJohn Mcclure (0000-0003-4284-4458, European University Institute, autor correspondente)
Ano2015
Volume13
Fascículo11
Páginas610-619
Data de publicação2015-11-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoHistory Compass (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1478-0542 • E-ISSN: 1478-0542
EditoraWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/hic3.12280
OpenAlexW2181334500
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas7
Referências citadas16

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

Ancient history · Archaeology · Colonialism · Denial · Islam · Middle Ages · Middle East · Modernity · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Gender Studies · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Law · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Psychology · Religion and Society Interactions