Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization in the CSM/SCM

The Canadian Society of Medievalists/Société Canadienne des Médiévistes commits to addressing discrimination, bigotry, prejudice, and injustice in our association and our field. Failing to address injustice harms our students, our colleagues, our discipline, and Canadians. For this reason, the CSM/SCM strongly encourages its members to engage with the principles of EDID (equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization). 

The CSM/SCM strives to include and invite scholars from equity-seeking groups to present their work at our meetings and in our journal; these efforts include an EDID Travel Grant that the SCM/CSM began offering annually in 2024. We also strive to include work pertaining to EDID topics at our conference -- including the session Queer Pasts / Queer Futurities, organized by the EDID committee for the 2025 CSM conference. Moreover, the Society seeks to apply EDID principles when recruiting officers. This includes aiming for disciplinary, regional, and linguistic diversity.

The Canadian Federation for Humanities and Social Science’s Igniting Change report provides useful summaries of the principles of EDID for the benefit of its member associations.

English Link: https://www.federationhss.ca/en/programs-policy/edi-and-decolonization/igniting-change

French link: https://www.federationhss.ca/sites/default/files/2021-10/Igniting-Change-Final-Report-and-Recommendations-fr.pdf

Equity goes beyond equality by “understanding and accommodating difference and providing people with what they need to enter and thrive within the academy.” (p. 7)

Diversity is the principle that encourages the membership and work of the Society to reflect “the whole range of human, cultural, and societal differences among populations across Canada.” (p. 6)

Inclusion seeks “to dismantle barriers that impede participation, engagement, representation, and empowerment of members of diverse social identities and from various backgrounds in the life of the academy.” (p. 7)

Decolonization involves “confronting and unsettling the impact of colonial histories, ideologies, experiences, and legacies on disciplines, archives, canons, curricula, methodologies, and pedagogies, as well as on structures of governance, [and] institutional design … [Decolonization aims to] relearn and rebuild the social, cultural, and linguistic foundations that were lost, or eroded through colonialism.” (p. 7)

Want to contribute to a discussion about the CSM's EDID statement? Click here (CSM members only)