| Long abstract | While many medievalists find themselves alone in their depart-ments, ranging from History to English, etc., many medieval-ists often find themselves just as alone, lonelier in some cases, among other medievalists, especially in professional contexts in which shared specialization ought to help them feel they be-long. Lone medievalists in their academic departments, though they may feel a sense of isolation, may find that acclimation to teaching, service, and other responsibilities has its own separat-ing effect, an effect that makes the lone medievalist feel doubly alone among other medievalists, especially at conferences, at which the expectation to make significant, independent, mean-ingful contributions to further medieval studies can be stifling. Such an expectation, frankly, may not be entirely reasonable. This may seem shocking, but many, if not most, medievalists do not have the personal resources to offer the kind of discipline-changing studies tacitly expected from them (from any scholar, really). At least it is shocking to say it out loud. The custom among academics is to refrain from saying what most are think-ing and experiencing in the hopes that somehow one will stum-ble into something that peers will claim is brilliant; it has been my custom, anyway, and I know from candid conversations with others that I am not alone. |
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