The Ethics of Teaching Medieval Worlds

Medieval history is taking a global turn in two key ways: first, the inclusion of content extending beyond Europe and the Afro-Eurasian interconnected worlds to the Americas and Oceania; and second, the integration of historiographic approaches emerging from outside Euro-American traditions, and specifically from postcolonial and Indigenous Studies. How should those teaching medieval history incorporate these global perspectives? What are the ethical issues for a non-Indigenous scholar using Indigenous knowledge systems to re-orient our understanding of premodern histories? This book offers insights and practical suggestions from a historian trained as a Euro-medievalist transforming into a global medievalist, and drawing on experiences teaching premodern world and medieval histories in Oceania. 

Karen Louise Jolly is a premodern historian and global medievalist at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, where she held the inaugural Jerry H. Bentley Distinguished Professorship of World History (2022–2024).