from Medieval Academy News (Fall 2003)

Medievalists, Demography, and the Next Decade
by Richard W. Unger

It would be morbid but more important inaccurate to compare the Black Death of the mid-fourteenth century with the mass of anticipated retirements from positions in North American colleges and universities in the next decade. The two have one thing in common, though: the need for institutions then and now to adjust to a demographic shock. Many responded positively in the fourteenth century. It is not at all certain that the same thing will be true about academe in the early twenty-first. The problem is especially acute for medievalists.

In the 1960s and early 1970s, the era of the last great hiring frenzy, departments of English, French, foreign languages, art history, and history in even medium-sized universities had at least one medievalist—English departments often two or three—and even small colleges had a sprinkling of medievalists. Most institutions took on board scholars working in the Middle Ages, and it is exactly those people who are now approaching retirement. If they are not replaced, their departure creates a very clear threat to the state of medieval studies in North America and further loss to the large cohort of unemployed medievalists available to take those jobs.

There is no doubt that universities have changed in the last four decades, moving toward greater interest in hard sciences and professional schools. The growth in the use, and cost, of computing facilities has affected even the smallest institutions. The public fascination with the here and now, the present and nothing more than the very recent past, combines with the drift of budgets to make unlikely the replacement of medievalists vacating places within the professoriate. This constitutes what is typically called a “challenge” by motivational speakers, a challenge to all members of the Academy, no matter where they find themselves on the age profile or what type of department they teach in, to try to find ways to insure that as many medievalists as possible are replaced by medievalists and that new positions are created to maintain the presence of work on the Middle Ages in a world which tends to undervalue such work. Reasons exist to be worried but no reasons exist for being negative.

There are modest suggestions of how to deal with the very real problem, some strategies that seem to transcend location and discipline. Keeping the work of medievalists front and center, obvious and noteworthy, integral and complementary to the work of others working in colleges and universities can never be disadvantageous. Having a sympathetic dean and administrators can be extremely valuable. Productive and active medieval programs get sympathetic responses from such people.

Pointing to the accomplishments of programs and of people working in medieval studies, demonstrating that medievalists are not simply complaining that life is, unfortunately, not like it used to be, and finding positive solutions for the difficulties of making the transition to a world with a new cohort of scholars will be productive. It will help in retaining positions and also give students of the Middle Ages a sense that they are on the right track. In many cases this will mean attracting and so teaching more students. If new positions are the result, the burden of trying to deal with more students will be a temporary one.

As important as convincing colleagues of the value of studying the Middle Ages is attending seminars, workshops, and conferences on campus to show that medievalists are not narrow and parochial and, more critically, that they have something to contribute to other fields and periods of study. Questions for, and contributions to, the deliberations of others can yield not only good will, but also potential for cooperation. If it is clear to the faculty and the administration that medievalists contribute to the larger intellectual culture of institutions and of academe, then filling posts should be easier.

Undergraduate programs and graduate programs need medievalists. Since balance is often needed for graduate students, a different perspective and their introduction to something other than the familiar will enhance their education. Students may be hard to convince, but colleagues may be more sympathetic to the argument. No matter the period being covered, background knowledge is essential and going back often means that students need to work on the Middle Ages.

Over the last century many libraries have developed extensive holdings in materials relevant to medieval studies. These works, although usually in the presumed antiquated form of books, have a long shelf life. It would be a mistake not to exploit those holdings, especially since libraries are increasingly strapped to keep pace with the publishing deluge. Graduate programs, especially but by no means exclusively in English, can make the argument that there is a tradition in departments and colleges and universities to teach courses that deal with the Middle Ages and, what is more, there is no good reason to abandon that tradition. The same is true with undergraduate programs.

Medievalists typically get superior students. Those students opting to work on medieval topics are often better informed than others, who may not have even heard of the Middle Ages. The fact that better students are drawn to the Middle Ages is another reason to be positive about medieval programs and an argument that can carry weight in dealing with threats to positions. Arguments can be made on the basis of quantity but more important they can and should be made on quality.

Cooperation with other academic programs can also take the form of consolidation. Some institutions have moved from offering degrees in medieval to medieval and early modern studies. The combined group of scholars and students within the institution is larger and intellectually stronger. Scholarship has moved toward breaking down the traditional divisions between the late Roman Empire, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and early modern Europe. Embracing the trend may bring greater recognition to medievalists both inside and outside their institutions. The fear of loss of focus, perhaps exaggerated, has to be weighed against the advantages of a stronger voice within existing departmental and faculty structures.

Similarly, medievalists can embrace the rise of world history, supplementing or supplanting existing courses and programs in western civilization. Medievalists can, or rather must, be part of any program in world history. In fact medievalists have often been instrumental in developing such programs and materials for them. The opportunity to work with scholars dealing with Asia or the New World should be greeted as an expansion of, rather than as an unnecessary diversion from, some narrowly conceived purpose.

Higher education is increasingly about fundraising, about finding money from non-traditional sources. Though this direction may be counterproductive for colleges and universities, medievalists will ignore it at their peril. They should be interested in pursuing outside sources of funding. The ability to find individuals or agencies or foundations willing to support the enterprise carries great weight in academic circles in the early twenty-first century. While the presence of the Middle Ages in academe may be threatened, its place in popular culture continues to be very strong. The interest of the public at large can be exploited not only to demonstrate the value of what medievalists do for the public image of institutions of higher education but also to utilize a potential source of financial support within groups outside of academe.

Though there may be an impression abroad to the contrary, medievalists over the last few decades have been anything but ivory-tower intellectuals; they have often taken their public role seriously. That can yield benefits within colleges and universities if properly exploited. Medievalists can also be prepared with shopping lists of possible positions to be funded, armed with arguments for the critical nature of those additions. Opportunities can appear suddenly, and having plans for exploiting those opportunities can produce positive results. Advanced planning also signals the seriousness of medievalists about their discipline.

There are certainly other strategies that will yield the desired results. These few are the result of the trading of ideas and experience among members of the Council of the Medieval Academy in 2002. There were reports of small victories, of success here and there in the context of a general sense of gloom. The exchange of stories of success, within departments, within instititions, and among members of the Academy will serve to eradicate that sense of despair.

It will also generate a positive sense about the enterprise all members are engaged in, an absolute necessity if there is to be any chance of maintaining and enhancing medieval studies in higher education in North America. The more that Academy members are active in pressing the case, in persuading others, and in presenting a positive face for the study of the Middle Ages, the more likely it is that there will be many medievalists around to present that positive face to future generations.