Mary Rambaran-Olm is a literary scholar specializing in

early medieval England Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of ...

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. In an interview with ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' she credits her father as inspiring her interest in early medieval England. When she was in college she became fascinated with

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...

upon reading ''

Beowulf ''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The ...

''. In 2012, Rambaran-Olm was awarded a PhD from the Department of English at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

for a thesis, entitled 'John's Prayer: An edition, literary analysis and commentary', examining a poem in the

Exeter Book The Exeter Book, also known as the Codex Exoniensis or Exeter Cathedral Library MS 3501, is a large codex of Old English poetry, believed to have been produced in the late tenth century AD. It is one of the four major manuscripts of Old Engli ...

. She previously studied for a BA in English and History at the

University of Calgary The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...

and for an MLitt in Medieval Literature at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

Career

Scholarship

Rambaran-Olm was the Provost's Post-doctoral Fellow at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

in the Faculty of English and Drama from 2020 to 2022. Her research explores race in early medieval England, drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Stuart Hall and

Dipesh Chakrabarty Dipesh Chakrabarty (born 1948, in Kolkata, India) is an Indian historian, who has also made contributions to postcolonial theory and subaltern studies. He is the Lawrence A. Kimpton Distinguished Service Professor in history at the University ...

. 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. 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''. The issue was widely read and broke a number of statistical records for the journal for readership and downloads. As of April 2021, she is also writing a book on

race Race, RACE or "The Race" may refer to: * Race (biology), an informal taxonomic classification within a species, generally within a sub-species * Race (human categorization), classification of humans into groups based on physical traits, and/or s ...

in Early England for

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

along with Erik Wade. Along with her academic publications, she has written a number of public-facing works, for ''

History Workshop The ''History Workshop Journal'' is a British academic history journal published by Oxford University Press. ''History Workshop'' was founded in 1976 by Raphael Samuel and others involved in the History Workshop movement. Originally sub-titled "A ...

'', ''Time'', HistoriansSpeak and a forthcoming piece in Public Books.

Activism

In 2019, she was a speaker at the Race Before Race symposium held at the

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare material ...

, whose stated aim was to be critical of and imagine pathways for a more inclusive future for

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

and

renaissance studies Renaissance studies (also ''Renaissance and Early Modern Studies'') is the interdisciplinary study of the Renaissance and early modern period. The field of study often incorporates knowledge from history, art history, literature, music, architectur ...

. 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. 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. 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 The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

' and

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

ideologies. As a result of her actions she experienced cyber bullying, racial abuse and threats of bodily attacks. Several academic associations wrote statements of support to Rambaran-Olm, including: Queerdievalists;

Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship The Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship (SMFS) is an academic organization which "promotes the study of the Patristic Age, the Middle Ages, and the Early Modern era from the perspective of gender studies, women's studies, and feminist st ...

; Medievalists of Color; the Islands of the North Atlantic Conference. Rambaran-Olm has also been involved in feminist activism in academia, and spent several years trying to draw attention to

Andy Orchard Andrew Philip McDowell Orchard (born 27 February 1964) is a scholar and teacher of Old English, Norse and Celtic literature. He is Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Pembroke College, Ox ...

's behaviour before ''Al Jazeera'' broke the story about his alleged sexual harassment of students.

''Bright Ages'' review controversy

In 2022, the ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...

'' 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 ''Review''s 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.

Sarah Bond Sarah Emily Bond is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Iowa. Her research focuses on late Roman history, epigraphy, law, topography, GIS, and digital humanities. Education Bond received her PhD in history from the University ...

, 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

*"Is the title of the Old English poem "The Descent into Hell" suitable?." ''Selim'' 13 (2005): 73-86. *''John the Baptist's Prayer, Or, 'The Descent Into Hell' from the Exeter Book: Text , Translation and Critical Study'' (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2014). *"The advantages and disadvantages of digital reconstruction and 'Anglo-Saxon' manuscripts." ''

Digital Medievalist Digital Medievalist is an academic project and community-building organization for those who are interested in the use of computers and computational techniques in the academic field of medieval studies, a sub-field of digital humanities. History ...

'', 2015. *Medievalism and the 'Flayed-Dane' Myth: English Perspectives between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries." in ''Flaying in the Premodern World: Practice and Representation'', ed. by L. Tracy (Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2017). *"Introduction: Race, Revulsion and Revolution", '' Postmedieval,'' 11.4, 2020. co-edited with Dr. Breann M Leake and Dr. Micah Goodrich. * "A Wrinkle in Medieval Time: Ironing Out the Problems of Periodization, Gatekeeping, and "Others" in Early English Studies," ''

New Literary History ''New Literary History: A Journal of Theory & Interpretation'' is a quarterly academic journal published by Johns Hopkins University Press. It focuses on the history and theory of literature, and key questions of interpretation. The journal has rec ...

'', Spring 2022. *Mary Rambaran-Olm and Erik Wade, 'The Many Myths of the Term 'Anglo-Saxon', ''Smithsonian Magazine,''15 July 2021

References

External links

University of Toronto - faculty profile
*

Misnaming the Medieval: Rejecting "Anglo-Saxon" Studies
- Mary Rambaran-Olm *

Time Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York City on Mar ...

: The Middle Ages Have Been Misused by the Far Right
Here's Why It's So Important to Get Medieval History Right
* Drinking with Historians
Episode 8 (Mary Rambaran-Olm & Erik Wade)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rambaran-Olm, Mary Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Calgary alumni Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of the University of Glasgow Academic staff of the University of Toronto Canadian women historians 21st-century Canadian historians Canadian medievalists Canadian anti-racism activists Women medievalists Literary historians Women literary historians Canadian palaeographers Canadian people of Indian descent Canadian people of Caribbean descent Canadian people of African descent