Assistant Professor Invited to Speak on Racialization and Vernacularity

Shyama Rajendran, Assistant Professor of Literature & the Arts at Krea University presented, “Language Undone: Racialization and Vernacularity, Medieval to Modern.” Shyama Rajendran’s research is centered on late medieval literature and explores varied forms of cultural and linguistic belonging and how demarcations of difference are culturally reproduced. She brings together medieval literature, sociolinguistics, critical race theory, disability theory, and gender studies in order to develop productive conversations that exist at the intersections of these fields. Her research also situates English multilingual authors within the context of the global Middle Ages and draws on methodologies from scholars working in non-European contexts, such as the medieval Mediterranean, bridging the conversation between the English and European Middle Ages with the global Middle Ages. Her talk was sponsored by the English Department, Medieval Studies (IMS), Foreign Languages and Literature (FLL), International Studies (ISI), and Feminist Research (FRI).