Christina Lee, Associate Professor in Viking Studies
Christina Lee is Associate Professor in Viking Studies. She tells us about her specialism in health and disease, what she loves about teaching this area, and why she recommends Nottingham.
How did you discover Viking and medieval studies?
“I did my undergraduate degree in Germany, where you have to study three areas. I did English as my major, history and German as my minors, and for all three of them I had to do medieval options. They turned out to be the more interesting modules by far!
I had come to university to do Victorian literature, and I still enjoy that. But the medieval areas were most interesting because it was like entering a different world.
It’s a world that is unfamiliar and familiar at the same time, and where the documents are often incomplete or obtuse. You have to do a lot more research to understand what’s going on. It challenges our perception and I really enjoyed that. That's what I wanted to continue.
The reason I came to the UK was because you couldn't do a masters degree just in the languages and culture of Early Medieval England. The opportunity was there in the UK to actually go down this route and do Old English and Old Norse."
What led you to a career in academia?
"I didn't see myself as an academic at all. It was during my masters that I was asked if I had thought about doing a PhD – I had never thought of it. I'm the first in my family to attend university.
I knew that academic jobs are very hard to come by and I gave myself a year to find one, otherwise I would go with plan B. I was lucky that the School of English gave me a fixed-term contract which was extended. In 2004 I applied for a permanent post advertised in the school and I was delighted to be offered it."
What is it that fascinates you about Viking and medieval studies?
"My main research area is health and disease.
There's an often erroneous idea that people in the Middle Ages didn't get medical attention or, if they got medical attention, it was useless. And that’s not true.
The wish to care for people is innate in humans, but there were different ideas for caring in the Middle Ages. For example, you’ve got much more focus on the connection between body and soul. You've also got a patient-focused approach in terms having to adjust to the person who's in front of you – whether that is gender based or age based. The idea that you need to take into consideration what this person is like is a really interesting approach.
It is possible that only a fraction of the remedies are useful, but we should not underestimate a possible placebo effect. But I think it’s important to recognise that community care. Being part of a group that would pray for you and would do things for you, so you felt cared for and special."
How did you get into your specialism?
"I got into this area when I was a research assistant and I did some database work on skeletal remains. I noticed that loads of people suffered health conditions. This does not mean they may have considered themselves as unhealthy, but it suggests that a diverse body of people lived in this time, and that there were a range of different responses to conditions.
I became interested in questions like if you had arthritis in the past, did you regard yourself as 'ill'? What difference did it make to your life, and what was the status of people who have long-term health conditions?
For example, there’s evidence in some of the religious sources that it's really important to experience pain, because that reminds you not to transgress."
Do you teach on any specific modules for the MA?
"Yes, I'm teaching ‘Contextualising Old English’ and we focus on health and healing. We’re going through various texts in which there are medical practices, some quite obvious, such as remedies, others a bit more unusual, such as prognostics."
What do you enjoy the most about teaching your specialism?
"Having the opportunity to discuss things that I love with intelligent people who also ask questions and challenge me."
Why do you recommend Nottingham for the MA in Viking and Early Medieval English Studies?
"If you are interested in the early medieval period, we are one of the very few places where you can study Old Norse and Old English to high proficiency and specialise in this area. We also show how our research can inform other communities, for example, our students design an exhibition. We have close working connections with the University Museum, and students get the opportunity to talk to a curator.
We offer specialisms in name studies. Nottingham is part of the ‘Five Boroughs’, which was an area in which Scandinavian language and practices endured.
If you go into the city, you will notice that there are a lot of '-gates', as for example, in Wheelergate. These do not indicate a gate, but are derived from the Old Norse word gata, meaning 'road'. English has many words which are derived from Old Norse, such as knife, sky, (to be) happy, as well as the pronoun ‘they’.
You can also do runology. We offer the language side and we offer the cultural historical side. We are quite unique."
Any tips for those considering the MA?
“Have a look what we're offering and think about the research environment. These will offer added resources and activities. We have the Centre for the study of the Viking Age (CSVA), and the Institute of Name Studies (INS) right here in the school, in the same corridor.
We've got the Benedikz Collection, which is a collection of rare editions and books of Old Norse to Modern Icelandic, and much of this is still to be explored. We've got a large number of printed books on Old Norse and there are still areas to be explored which may become potential PhD topics. I’d say to prepare to be challenged!"
How do you define success?
"For me personally it means having publications that are making an impact in my discipline. As a teacher, it means having challenged my students and helping them to develop their own areas to a successful finish. That could be in their dissertations, or if they go further and become academics themselves. Several of my PhD students have become academics and some of them are my colleagues now."
Anything else to add?
"Even though this discipline is focused on Britain and Scandinavia, this is a period of fundamental change and many of these changes come from the outside. For example, the Christianization of England are led by people and ideas coming from the Mediterranean, North Africa and Turkey, as well as the European continent.
The connections the Vikings have span from North America to Central Asia. The Early Middles Ages is a period in which England is intellectually, culturally and economically part of a much wider world. However, there are also darker sides which must not be ignored: from colonisation to enslavement, war and epidemics, these also have to be studied."
This is such a complex period of time and many issues are very relevant for today.
Go further
Study Viking and Early Medieval English Studies MA
Christina's research in the media