This article focuses on the use of postcolonial criticism in the study of the European Middle Ages. It concentrates on two issues critiqued in particular by historians: anachronism and applicability. The article is thus structured around two questions: Why should medievalists explore contemporary postcolonial issues instead of strictly medieval ones? And why should the tools of postcolonial theory be considered applicable to medieval societies and times?
This essay discusses the racialized portrayal of Dangier in Bodleian Library MS Douce 195. In contrast to the notion that the Middle Ages had no recourse to race as phenotypical difference, it argues that the orientalization of depictions in late medieval manuscripts like Douce 195— mostly studied through costume—is also to be found in portrayals of skin pigmentation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.