![Pro-choice demonstrators outside the Supreme Court, Washington DC, 1989. Photo: Lorie Shaull [CC BY 2.0]](https://thematerialcollective.org/cortex/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Pro-choice_demonstrators_outside_the_Supreme_Court_in_1989_Washington_DC_48580743372-960x540.jpeg)
Stand up and say it again: don’t mourn, organize! We are gutted, we are angry, but we really aren’t surprised by the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. And we, like you, feel called to take some kind of action. With federal protection for women’s bodies now gone, we must turn our attention and […]
Activism
An open letter to the College Art Association Board of Directors on layoffs and closures in Art History
Higher education — and particularly the humanities, and very particularly the field of Art History — are in a state of unprecedented crisis in the United States. We need CAA, as the flagship organization for art historians to publicize this large-scale attack on our academic field.
Ways to Help: In Honor of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor
Kholood Mo’allim, a student at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN (academic home to Material Collective Core Member Nancy Thompson), has compiled this guide for people who wish to support communities in the Twin Cities in this time of pain and crisis. She shared it with her campus at St. Olaf, and now we share […]
Untangling the Myth of Linguistic Purity in the Medieval Classroom
This guest post by Sharon Rhodes considers a subject of great interest in medieval studies at present, the use of the term “Anglo-Saxon.” Rhodes takes a fresh approach to the subject, focusing on how to teach Old English language and literature (with relevance for the teaching of related subjects, such as medieval English art, history, etc.) without welcoming or fostering the racist fantasies about linguistic and cultural “purity” that have plagued the field more or less since its inception.
Don’t Mourn, Organize!
It’s a well-known saying, a paraphrase of the International Workers of the World organizer Joe Hill’s last words. They’re not easy words to live by.