Wan-Chuan Kao, "White before Whiteness in the Late Middle Ages" (Manchester UP, 2024)

Feb 28, 2025

Wan-Chuan Kao, a medievalist specializing in late Middle English literature, delves into the complexities of premodern whiteness in his groundbreaking book. He discusses how concepts like fragility and racialicity shaped identity, drawing parallels with modern issues of race. The conversation includes explorations of texts such as Chaucer's works, the significance of material culture like pearls, and the interplay between whiteness and Christian-Jewish identities. Kao also tackles 'boforeness,' linking historical and contemporary discussions on race and identity politics.

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Episode notes

Intro

00:00 • 2min

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Rethinking Whiteness in Late Middle English Literature

02:11 • 17min

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Exploring White Fragility and Material Culture in the Late Middle Ages

18:49 • 3min

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Whiteness and Precarity in 'Pearl'

21:31 • 15min

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Intersecting Identities: Whiteness, Christianity, and Jewish Heritage

36:36 • 2min

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Whiteness and Racial Identity in Medieval Literature

38:19 • 14min

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Exploring 'Boforeness' and Whiteness

52:40 • 13min

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White Before Whiteness in the Late Middle Ages

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Dr. Wan-Chuan Kao

Dr. Wan-Chuan Kao's "White Before Whiteness in the Late Middle Ages" delves into the complexities of premodern whiteness, examining its manifestations through fragility, precarity, and racialicity. The book challenges the notion that race is solely a modern construct, exploring how whiteness operated in the late medieval period through various social, cultural, and artistic expressions. Kao analyzes literary works and material objects to reveal the multifaceted nature of premodern whiteness, highlighting its role in shaping identities and power dynamics. The study offers a nuanced understanding of how whiteness functioned in the past and its lasting impact on contemporary understandings of race and identity. It encourages a critical examination of the assumptions surrounding whiteness and its historical evolution.

Piers Plowman

William Langland

The Book of the Duchess

Geoffrey Chaucer

Pearl

Unknown (possibly the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)

White Fragility

Why It's so Hard for White People to Talk About Racism

Sir Thopas is a burlesque tale within Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, notable for its satirical portrayal of medieval romance conventions. The poem features a ridiculously inept knight, Sir Thopas, whose adventures are recounted in a highly exaggerated and comical style. Chaucer's use of parody and his subversion of traditional heroic narratives make Sir Thopas a unique and entertaining piece of literature. The poem's humorous tone and its critique of literary conventions contribute to its enduring appeal. Its inclusion within the Canterbury Tales provides a contrast to the more serious and emotionally resonant tales told by other pilgrims.

The squire's tale

Geoffrey Chaucer

“The Squire’s Tale” is one of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. It’s a romance featuring a young squire who tells a story of a magical horse and a beautiful Mongol princess. The tale is unfinished, leaving the narrative unresolved. The tale is known for its vivid descriptions, its use of romance conventions, and its portrayal of a fantastical world. The tale's unfinished nature and its blend of romance and fantasy make it a significant work in Middle English literature. The tale's fantastical elements and its portrayal of a foreign culture continue to fascinate readers today.

The Invention of Race in the European Middle Ages

Geraldine Heng

The travels of Sir John Mandeville

John Mandeville

The "Travels of Sir John Mandeville" is a 14th-century travelogue that recounts fantastical journeys to the East. While often considered fictional, it reflects the European imagination of the time and the exotic lands beyond their known world. The book describes fantastical creatures, strange customs, and wondrous sights, blending elements of reality and fiction. It was incredibly popular during its time and influenced subsequent travel literature. Its enduring appeal lies in its imaginative storytelling and its reflection of the medieval worldview.

White before Whiteness in the Late Middle Ages (Manchester University Press, 2024) by Dr. Wan-Chuan Kao analyses premodern whiteness as operations of fragility, precarity and racialicity across bodily and nonsomatic figurations.

The book argues that while whiteness participates in the history of racialisation in the late medieval West, it does not denote skin tone alone. The 'before' of whiteness, presupposing essence and teleology, is less a retro-futuristic temporisation - one that simultaneously looks backward and faces forward - than a discursive figuration of how white becomes whiteness. Fragility delineates the limits of ruling ideologies in performances of mourning as self-defence against perceived threats to subjectivity and desire; precarity registers the ruptures within normative values by foregrounding the unmarked vulnerability of the body politic and the violence of cultural aestheticisation; and racialicity attends to the politics of recognition and the technologies of enfleshment at the systemic edge of life and nonlife.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose new book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars.

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