Clendinning lecture brings Middle Ages into modern focus

Nipissing’s History department presents the fourth annual Clendinning Memorial Lecture, featuring guest speaker Dr. Roisin Cossar of the University of Manitoba on Wednesday, January 24, at 7p.m. in room B200.

Dr. Cossar will present From Narnia to Charlottesville: Medieval Fantasies and Why They Matter.

Here is a brief description:

The view of the Middle Ages as a period of heroes and villains, knights and castles, unsullied by contemporary political and social concerns, has been prevalent for decades. But recent events have brought the Middle Ages onto the modern stage, as alt-right and neo-Nazi groups increasingly select and appropriate medieval symbols and cultures for their own purposes. Scholarly resistance to such appropriation has raised questions about how the distant past survives in the modern imagination. In this talk, which examines fantasies of the Middle Ages in pop culture and academic work, I consider the role for historians in this discussion.

The lecture is free of charge, all are welcome and a reception will follow.