NCS just sent this letter to William Rice, the head honcho of the NEH, to protest the defunding of Institutes and Seminars outside the US. William Craig Rice Director, Division of Education Programs [email protected] Dear Mr. Rice I am writing on behalf of the New Chaucer Society and in solidarity with other US scholars to express my surprise and dismay that after this year the NEH will discontinue its funding of Institutes and Seminars unless they are held within the United States or its territories. I am extremely disappointed that this appears to be a fait accompli. The decision appears to have been taken without consultation, and without any opportunity for discussion or debate. We understand that the NEH has come under increasing budgetary pressure in recent years. However, it continues to be crucial that the NEH support the best possible programming, and the best possible professional support for our Humanities scholars. Excluding Institutes and Seminars on the basis of their geographical location is at odds with this. Chaucer scholars have conducted highly successful Seminars for School Teachers in London and/or Canterbury for many years. Since 2008, Seminars on Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales have been directed biennially by David Raybin and Susanna Fein, enabling over sixty high school teachers from across the United States to study Chaucer in the context of places that he knew. The timing of the Seminar has usually coordinated with the biennial Congress of the New Chaucer Society, and in recent years nearly two dozen participants have attended these meetings. Plans are already being made to integrate the 2016 Chaucer Summer Seminar with the 2016 NCS Congress in London (held 10-15 July 2016), a congress that will feature special sessions for high school teachers, as well as many other sessions on a variety of topics of interest to those teaching Chaucer and medieval literature at all levels. It is a real blow to the NCS Congress organizers and to the teachers involved that the Seminar will not now be taking place. A London-based NEH Summer Seminar provides many Chaucer scholars and teachers with a rare opportunity to work abroad, to experience the places they study, to consult original documentation and artefacts, and to meet with foreign scholars and lay the groundwork for future collaborations. All of this enriches both the scholarship of these academics and the scholarly culture of our country. Moreover, our participating scholars act as scholarly and cultural ambassadors for the US, at a time when our country’s position as a leader in setting global cultural and intellectual trends is increasingly less secure. Cultural isolationism is a not an effective strategy either for our country or for the NEH. Dr. Raybin and Dr. Fein are likely to apply to conduct a Canterbury Tales seminar in the US, and I hope that it will be approved. That teachers get to study Chaucer anywhere is good. Frankly, though, the US does not does not provide the unique experience of studying Chaucer in the city where Chaucer lived and wrote, and where there is access to libraries and manuscripts that seminar participants would not otherwise have the opportunity to experience and work with. The Chaucer Seminar provides participants with what are often rare, career-changing experiences that have demonstrable effects on the next generation of Chaucer scholars that are being trained by its participants. In sum, this decision represents a considerable loss to the NEH, and to U.S. scholarship. We sincerely hope that the NEH will reconsider, and at the least place a two or three-year moratorium on this policy until such a time as it can be carefully considered, and with the input of those whom it will affect most. Sincerely Ruth Evans Executive Director, New Chaucer Society
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 23:10:06 +0000
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