Preface by the 2022–23 Anti-Racist Pedagogy Fellows

On the Same Page: Defining Romantic and Anti-Racist Terms

Our project arose out of a desire for clarity and connection. How can we approach anti-racist work in the classroom if we do not all speak the same language? How can we introduce students and educators alike to anti-racist concepts that are relevant for our particular discipline? We thus set out to create a hybridized resource that might define and recontextualize key terms through an intersectional approach, providing empowering terminology, concrete references, and teachable examples in approaching Romanticism. This dictionary would enable us to address histories of oppression in the classroom and reduce systemic harm in perpetuating incomplete or incorrect historical narratives, broadening the literary canon in the process. Ultimately, we hoped to help to create a more inclusive environment in teaching and learning Romanticism–one that uplifts and acknowledges suppressed voices and welcomes them into a field that we have all come to value. 

This year we established a list of 23 terms to inform anti-racist Romanticist pedagogy and crafted short definitions with historical context for each term. For some key terms, we also included a list of suggested textual examples to explore further or to teach in a classroom setting. Some of the terms that we had to confront for our dictionary are considered offensive and are even used as slurs today. We feel that it is our responsibility as part of this project to define the origins of these slurs, explain their resonances in a contemporary moment, and propose alternatives to their usage. Available as a Microsoft Word document and a visual .PDF zine, this list is by no means exhaustive but begins to address the need for monitoring language that we use every day for these subjects. The reason our dictionary is considered “living” is because we hope that the terms and their definitions will continue to evolve. In the future, we hope to update the dictionary with additional terms and regularly revisit our definitions to ensure that they are still up-to-date. The generative potential of an online dictionary and its crowdsourcing qualities were inspired by the Undisciplining the Victorian Classroom project developed by Professors Pearl Chaozen Bauer, Ryan D. Fong, Sophia Hsu, and Adrian S. Wisnicki. We are also indebted to Dr. Megan Peiser, whose generosity and strength of voice inspired our entries on indigenous peoples.

In creating a dictionary that is living, we are also influenced by what has come before, and we acknowledge that dictionaries are anything but apolitical; there is no such thing as pure, impersonal scholarship. Seminal texts like Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), one of the earliest and most influential English dictionaries, and even the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) have cemented their places in the Western literary canon as not only authoritative references but also sources that limit and police categorizations. Though we occasionally turn to these texts for historical context in some terms, we do repeatedly depart from them to broaden legacy and signification.  

Our work was also informed by various recent keywords projects, particularly that of Raymond Williams. As Williams notes in the Introduction to his radical Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society (1976), the “only spirit” in which a “keywords” project can be properly done is through the use of “common language” and eager participation (xxxvii). There is little doubt that Williams’s cry for accessible language was not a tribute to the philosophy of the Romantic poets. As scholars, teachers, and students, we must explore, celebrate, and properly adopt “a selection of the real language of men”—the powerful terms, phrases, and sentiments of the everyday (Wordsworth 171). 

In addition to these theoretical giants, we would also like to extend our gratitude and admiration to the masterful works of Robert DeMaria, Jr. in British Literature 1640-1789 (2016) and Frederick Burwick in Romanticism: Keywords (2015). We first drew many of our terms and provisional definitions from these two texts. We recommend both as supplementary reading for this dictionary. All notes and references made in individual entries are cited and documented at the end of the dictionary. 

 As stated, we envision this resource as living and breathing in the sense that it is just a starting point. We heartily invite collaboration on this resource from all disciplines in adding to the list, refining our terms, and adding sources. The title LADR represents our approach to anti-racist pedagogy in the sense of ascending, climbing incrementally up a ladder of knowledge to reach somewhere higher. We invite others to come with us. We appreciate the time and patience granted to us by our various audiences as we send this resource out into the world, hoping it will do some good.