2017 Berkshire Conference on the History of Women, Genders and Sexualities

June 01 - 04, 2017

Sponsored by the Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship, this lightning session revisits the challenge Judith M. Bennett posed for historians in her 2006 book History Matters: Patriarchy and the Challenge of Feminism: to narrow the gap between feminism and history and to recognize the relevance of the distant past to contemporary issues. Ten (+1) years later we will contemplate whether, how, and to what extent historians and activists have reconnected their projects, and how we might do so moving forward. Panelists include academic historians, administrators, a journalist and activists with research focuses on world, European, and US history; disability; race; leadership; human rights and social justice; labor; historiography; and, of course, feminism and women’s history. Recent activity on social media regarding antifeminism in the Medieval Studies community, as well as concerns on medievalist listservs that the field has become marginal demonstrate the real importance for medieval historians to embrace feminism as well as to more actively engage with scholars outside our specialties and the broader public.

Upon its publication History Matters was celebrated with critical conversations among historians in the Journal of Women’s History (20:2, 2008), a 2009 blogger’s roundtable (http://girlscholar.blogspot.com/2009/03/should-politics-be-historical-should.html), and even a Berks panel (Minneapolis, 2008). Several years have passed since those discussions, however, and it is time to consider whether Judith Bennett’s call has been heard, whether her message is still relevant, and how feminist historians and activists might answer it together.