Mary Rambaran-Olm Explained

Mary Rambaran-Olm
Thesis Title:John's Prayer: an edition, literary analysis and commentary
Thesis Url:http://theses.gla.ac.uk/3457/
Thesis Year:2012
Doctoral Advisor:G. D. Caie
Alma Mater:University of Calgary (BA)
University of St Andrews (MLitt)
University of Glasgow (PhD)
Workplaces:University of Toronto

Mary Rambaran-Olm is a literary scholar specializing in early medieval England from the fifth to eleventh centuries.

Early life and education

Rambaran-Olm was born and raised in Canada, and is of Afro-Indo-Caribbean descent.[1] In an interview with The Washington Post she credits her father as inspiring her interest in early medieval England.[2] When she was in college she became fascinated with Old English upon reading Beowulf.[3] In 2012, Rambaran-Olm was awarded a PhD from the Department of English at the University of Glasgow for a thesis, entitled 'John's Prayer: An edition, literary analysis and commentary', examining a poem in the Exeter Book.[4] She previously studied for a BA in English and History at the University of Calgary and for an MLitt in Medieval Literature at the University of St Andrews.

Career

Scholarship

Rambaran-Olm was the Provost's Post-doctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto in the Faculty of English and Drama from 2020 to 2022.[5] Her research explores race in early medieval England, drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Stuart Hall and Dipesh Chakrabarty.[6] Her translation of The Descent Into Hell (or John the Baptist's Prayer) was praised as "accurate and readable", as well as bringing new insight into the idea of time in the poem.[7]

Along with Breanne M. Leake and Micah Goodrich, Rambaran-Olm has served as a guest editor for the journal Postmedieval's volume Race, Revulsion, and Revolution.[8] The issue was widely read and broke a number of statistical records for the journal for readership and downloads.[9] As of April 2021, she is also writing a book on race in Early England for Cambridge University Press along with Erik Wade.[10] Along with her academic publications, she has written a number of public-facing works, for History Workshop, Time, HistoriansSpeak and a forthcoming piece in Public Books.[11] [12]

Activism

In 2019, she was a speaker at the Race Before Race symposium held at the Folger Shakespeare Library, whose stated aim was to be critical of and imagine pathways for a more inclusive future for medieval and renaissance studies.[13] At this event, she publicly resigned from her position as 2nd Vice President of the (as it was named at the time) International Society of Anglo-Saxonists.[14] Rambaran-Olm's resignation came as a result of the organization's reluctance to change its name and other issues she had with the organization, as well as issues within the wider field of early English studies. The proposal to change the name of the International Society of Anglo-Saxonists had first been proposed by Adam Miyashiro in an open letter published on Facebook on July 28 2017.[15] Her resignation served as a catalyst for the field to begin interrogating its terminology that was criticised as antiquated and what was said to be the historical connection between the term 'Anglo-Saxon' and white supremacist ideologies.[16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] As a result of her actions she experienced cyber bullying, racial abuse and threats of bodily attacks.[22] Several academic associations wrote statements of support to Rambaran-Olm, including: Queerdievalists; Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship; Medievalists of Color; the Islands of the North Atlantic Conference.[23] [24] [25] Rambaran-Olm has also been involved in feminist activism in academia, and spent several years trying to draw attention to Andy Orchard's behaviour before Al Jazeera broke the story about his alleged sexual harassment of students.[26]

Bright Ages review controversy

In 2022, the Los Angeles Review of Books declined to publish a negative review by Rambaran-Olm of The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, which she criticised as a white-centric narrative. The Los Angeles Review of Books later published a positive review of the book, which Boris Dralyuk, the Reviews editor in chief, stated had been commissioned before the review by Rambaran-Olm.

Rambaran-Olm later posted her review on Medium and also posted parts of her email correspondence with the editors on Twitter.[27] [28] Sarah Bond, who commissioned the review, accused her of giving a selective version of the facts and pushed back against the idea that the refusal of the review had anything to do with whiteness or protecting the book authors. Others became involved in the controversy, and two scholars falsely claimed Rambaran-Olm lied about her race and was not part Black. Bond later apologised, condemned the racist attacks against Rambaran-Olm, and deleted her Twitter account.

Selected publications

References

  1. News: Schuessler . Jennifer . 2022-05-07 . Medieval Scholars Spar on a Modern Battlefield: Twitter . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-05-09 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220508001955/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/06/arts/medieval-race-twitter.html . 2022-05-08 . 0362-4331.
  2. News: 'It's all white people': Allegations of white supremacy are tearing apart a prestigious medieval studies group . en-US . Washington Post . 2022-04-30 . 0190-8286.
  3. News: Natanson. Hannah. September 19, 2019. 'It's all white people': Allegations of white supremacy are tearing apart a prestigious medieval studies group. The Washington Post. 24 January 2022.
  4. John's Prayer: an edition, literary analysis and commentary. University of Glasgow. 2012. PhD. en-GB. Mary Rosanna. Rambaran-Olm.
  5. Web site: The Canadian Society of Medievalists - Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Toronto. 2020-09-15. www.canadianmedievalists.org.
  6. Web site: Rambaran-Olm, Mary. 2020-09-15. www.english.utoronto.ca.
  7. Discenza. Nicole Guenther. 2015-01-01. 15.05.23, Rambaran-Olm, John the Baptist's Prayer. The Medieval Review. en. 1096-746X.
  8. Web site: About / News postmedieval – a journal of medieval cultural studies palgrave. 2020-09-22. www.palgrave.com.
  9. Rambaran-Olm. Mary. Leake. M. Breann. Goodrich. Micah James. 2020-12-01. Medieval studies: the stakes of the field. Postmedieval. en. 11. 4. 356–370. 10.1057/s41280-020-00205-5. 2040-5979. free.
  10. Web site: Dr. Erik Wade — Department of English, American, and Celtic Studies. 2021-04-07. www.iaak.uni-bonn.de.
  11. Web site: 2019-11-04. Misnaming the Medieval: Rejecting "Anglo-Saxon" Studies. 2021-04-07. History Workshop. en-US.
  12. The Middle Ages Have Been Misused by the Far Right. Here's Why It's So Important to Get Medieval History Right. 2021-04-07. Time.
  13. Web site: 2019-08-27. ASU medieval center brings conversations about race to our nation's capital. 2020-09-22. ASU Now: Access, Excellence, Impact. en.
  14. News: Natanson. Hannah. 'It's all white people': Allegations of white supremacy are tearing apart a prestigious medieval studies group. en-US. Washington Post. 2020-09-15. 0190-8286.
  15. Web site: Hsy . Jonathan . Decolonizing Anglo-Saxon Studies: A Response to ISAS in Honolulu . 2022-04-30 . en.
  16. News: Bridge. Mark. Drop the term Anglo-Saxon as it is 'bound up with white supremacy', say academics. The Times. en. 2020-09-22. 0140-0460.
  17. 2019-09-04. Statement on the Anglo-Saxon Discussion. Remembering the Medieval Present: Generative Uses of England's Pre-Conquest Past, 10th to 15th Centuries. 9789004408333. en.
  18. Web site: 2020-03-18. Medieval Studies Struggles Against White Supremacist Elements in the Field. 2020-09-22. Diverse. en.
  19. Web site: Wood. Michael. As a racism row rumbles on, is it time to retire the term 'Anglo-Saxon'?. 2021-04-12. HistoryExtra. en.
  20. Web site: Gaulhofer. 13 11 2019 um 12:24 von Karl. 2019-11-13. Angelsächsisch? Das wird man bald nicht mehr sagen dürfen. 2020-09-22. Die Presse. de.
  21. Web site: 2019-11-09. Il termine anglosassone va messo al bando? Gli storici si interrogano: lo usano suprematisti bianchi. 2020-09-22. Blitz quotidiano. it-IT.
  22. Web site: SMFS SMFS Statement in Support of Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm. 2020-09-22. smfsweb.org.
  23. Web site: 2019-09-13. Queerdievalists' Statement in Support of Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm. 2020-09-22. Queerdievalists. en.
  24. Web site: Statement of Support for Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm – Medievalists of Color. 10 September 2019 . 2020-09-22. en.
  25. Web site: Statement of Support of Dr. Mary Rambaran-Olm and the Medievalists of Color. 2020-09-22. IONA: Islands of the North Atlantic. 13 September 2019 .
  26. Web site: Tahir . Nawa . 2022-04-04 . Mary Rambaran-Olm spoke out about the allegations against Andy Orchard for years. Why didn't anyone listen to her? . 2023-07-20 . The Varsity . en-US.
  27. Web site: Rambaran-Olm . M. . 2022-04-28 . SOUNDS ABOUT WHITE . 2022-05-11 . Medium . en.
  28. Web site: Rambaran-Olm . M. . 2022-04-30 . Not Qwhite Right . 2022-05-11 . Medium . en.
  29. Rambaran-Olm. M. R.. 2005. Is the title of the Old English poem "The Descent into Hell" suitable?. Selim. 13. 73–86. 1132-631X.
  30. Book: 'John the Baptist's prayer' or 'The descent into hell' from the Exeter book. Text, translation and critical study. Rambaran-Olm, M. R.. 19 June 2014. 978-1-78204-200-6. Woodbridge. 881430454.
  31. Rambaran-Olm. M. R.. 2015-04-17. The advantages and disadvantages of digital reconstruction and Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. Digital Medievalist. en. 9. 10.16995/dm.49. 1715-0736. free.
  32. Web site: Flaying in the Pre-Modern World. 2021-04-07. Boydell and Brewer. 14 May 2020 . en-GB.
  33. Rambaran-Olm. Mary. Breann Leake. M.. Goodrich. Micah James. 2020-12-01. Medieval studies: the stakes of the field. Postmedieval. en. 11. 4. 356–370. 10.1057/s41280-020-00205-5. 2040-5979. free.
  34. Web site: New Literary History: About NLH. 2021-04-07. newliteraryhistory.org. 2016-10-29. https://web.archive.org/web/20161029070417/http://newliteraryhistory.org/about_NLH.php. dead.
  35. Web site: Rambaran-Olm. Erik Wade,Mary. The Many Myths of the Term 'Anglo-Saxon'. 2021-07-15. Smithsonian Magazine. en.

External links

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