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Dueling Narratives: Women and Heraldic Interpretation in Middle English Romance
No full textIn the chivalric romance Sir Eglamour of Artois, the poet represents both Eglamour and his son, Degrabell, with enigmatic armorial devices. These shields seem to defy the blazon’s traditional symbolic and visual vocabulary, requiring a deeper reading of the heraldic narrative on display by a woman who has intimate knowledge of the particular visual symbols her long-lost husband and son deploy. In short, Eglamour and Degrabell are two knights in search of a lineage, and it is the mother, Christabell’s interpretive skill rather than the many professional heralds in the story that provides it. Although medieval women did not act as heralds themselves or have the social status to describe it formally, they understood the importance of the symbolic system for promoting and advertising their family’s political power and strategic alliances. This essay will argue that the act of heraldic description is a powerful performance of social and cultural influence, and that it can be appropriated by those least likely to wield the specialized knowledge
Lordship and Governance by the Inheriting Countesses of Boulogne, 1160–1260 by Heather J. Tanner
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Thousands and Thousands of Lovers: Sense of Community among the Nuns of Helfta by Anna Harrison
No full textWomen and Medieval Literary Culture: From the Early Middle Ages to the Fifteenth Century edited by Corinne Saunders and Dianne Watt
No full textCritical Communication Pedagogy at the End of the World
No full textThis essay draws upon my experiences teaching the undergraduate course, “Communication at the End of the World,” to argue for an approach to critical communication pedagogy (CCP) contextualized by and reflexively responsive to planetary-scale ecological crises. I outline how five commitments have come to guide my classroom’s explorations through our topic of “end-times” communication: (1) Anthropocentrism and speciesism participate in the maintenance of social hierarchy; (2) environmental justice and social justice are intimately entangled projects; (3) ecological crisis is (re)made concrete, embodied, proximal, and implicative; (4) critique of language involves critique of humanism and humanist historicization; and, (5) ecologically just speculative futurity is requisite to political praxis. These commitments complicate and elaborate upon Deanna L. Fassett and John T. Warren’s (2007) 10 commitments for CCP
Interview with Wendy Fields
Get PDFWendy Fields was interviewed as part of SHARE’s Reparations in the Black World oral history collection which was developed in partnership with the students in a Black Reparations course at Western Michigan University. Ms. Fields was interviewed by Kennedy Walker, a student in the aforementioned course. During the interview, Ms. Fields discussed the following topics: Her childhood in the Northside of Kalamazoo; Developing her understanding of racism as a child; The Black community in Kalamazoo during her childhood versus now; How her parents influenced her beliefs; Being the president of the NAACP and the power of titles; Higher education; How she goes about her advocacy, and; Rebuilding the Northside through education and housing.https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reparations/1000/thumbnail.jp
Building Better Communities
Get PDFThis project explores how innovative design strategies can build better communities by enhancing mental health, physical well-being, and social engagement, ultimately creating a sense of belonging and growth in cities.
Motivated by the challenges of affordability, accessibility, social isolation, and environmental degradation, this project emphasizes the transformative power of design. By integrating community-centered design (CCD) and human-centered design (HCD) principles, the project aims to learn about resilient, inclusive, and sustainable communities. These approaches involve active community participation, ensuring that solutions are culturally relevant, inclusive, and responsive to local needs.
Key strategies include promoting social connectedness, improving public access to health and social services, and enhancing economic stability. The project also looks into the philosophies of urbanism and climate resilience, providing knowledge for designing adaptable communities that can withstand and recover from environmental challenges.
Through participatory design and co-design methods, community members actively contribute to decision making, creating a sense of ownership and commitment to the sustainability of their communities. By using local knowledge and innovative design practices, the project bridges the gap between policy planning and implementation, creating communities that are not only functional but also supportive of the well-being and growth of their residents.
Ultimately, this project demonstrates how thoughtful design can transform communities into thriving, resilient environments capable of addressing both present and future challenges, thereby significantly enhancing mental health, physical well-being, and social engagement