OED. ‘Anglo-Saxonist, n.’: professional scholar or anonymous person

Abstract

In this essay, I examine the figure of the ‘Anglo-Saxonist’. Although this overtly racialized term describes a person whose affinities point towards white nationalism, that scholars continue to call themselves Anglo-Saxonists suggests that ‘Anglo-Saxonist’ is much more than just a professional appellative. It is, I argue, a ghost in the machine of Anglo-Saxon studies–a spectral figure of white supremacy that haunts this interdisciplinary field. While ghosts may manifest themselves in professional contexts, they live in the home. I turn, therefore, away from my discussion of Anglo-Saxon studies’ intellectual history in order to look inside the closets of my family’s home and consider what might be haunting me. Using the methods of autoethnography, I write about my Mississippi family, its Confederate past, and the racial leanings which may or may not have entangled me within Anglo-Saxon studies. Writing about–and grieving–the ghosts of my family and the Deep South enables me to find a personal space from which to approach the ghostly figure of the Anglo-Saxonist; to look upon its racialized form; and to open an affective space for myself, in collaboration with my field, to grieve its passing.