This short essay is a reflection on how The medieval podcast became a successful public-facing humanities project, changing my life and career in the process. Among the many lessons learned along the way is how powerful it is to just be willing to push past fear and try something new.
In this dialogic essay, the editors and co-hosts of Meeting in the Middle Ages discuss how podcasting can demystify the scholarly process by centering the people behind the research. They consider how casual conversations about life, work, and all things medieval foreground scholars’ experiences, methods, and career trajectories. They also reflect on how these discussions can help early-career researchers navigate their own paths while offering the general public an accessible look into how medieval research is conducted.
In this written episode of The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast, the producers reflect on the project’s commitment to broadening access to medieval studies and making the processes of scholarly knowledge production more visible. Through conversations about the podcast’s history, public humanities, intellectual collaboration, career pathways, and the pleasures and mysteries of the medieval past, they consider how podcasting can expand scholarly communities.
This article examines how medieval and early modern penitential rituals in monasteries physically constructed submissive, masochistic male sexuality, standing in sharp contrast with the dominant sexuality of laymen. By analyzing pastoral recommendations, such as Thomas of Chobham’s advice to rub the erect penis with stinging nettles or Jean Gerson’s rules for flagellation intensity, I argue that masochism was essentially the only form of sexuality permitted for clergy. Because the Church strictly condemned conventional sexual release, self-inflicted pain was often the only available way for monks to touch their erogenous zones, serving as a direct substitute for masturbation. By comparing these sexually charged practices with extreme mortification of the flesh, like that of the mystic Henry Suso and early unsanctioned flagellants, the study establishes concrete criteria for distinguishing ‘masturbatory’ pain from just self-harm.
Drawing on my work hosting New Books in Buddhist Studies, this essay describes my deliberately unpolished interview podcast built around one imagined listener: an overworked academic outside the subfield who will probably never read the book discussed, but may well have to teach it. I argue that such a podcast succeeds by choosing a few goals and by adopting a sustainable process, which means accepting a degree of unremarkability.
