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Race in Tolkien Studies: A Bibliographic Essay

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Tolkien and Alterity

Part of the book series: The New Middle Ages ((TNMA))

Abstract

Academic discussion on race in Tolkien studies originated fairly recently caused, in part, by the growing influence of cultural studies and the release of the live-action film by Peter Jackson in 2001–2003. For the purpose of this essay, I define Tolkien studies as an inter- and multidisciplinary field encompassing Tolkien’s legendarium as well as adaptations, derivations, and transformative cultural productions arising from his work. My analysis of scholarship dealing with race in Tolkien studies published during the past dozen years reveals two significant patterns of critical approaches and varying, at times oppositional, claims about Tolkien’s work and/or Tolkien himself. These patterns tend toward the binary, especially the conflict between those who see Tolkien or his work as racist and those who see Tolkien or his work as celebrating diversity and multicultural cooperation. The other conflict is between scholarly periods of specialization, specifically the question of whether approaches developed by medievalists or postmodernists are best suited for analyzing Tolkien’s work.

I would like to thank Helen Young for her input into this specific essay and for the work she has done generally on race in Tolkien studies. Her review essay on The Body in Tolkien’s Legendarium inspired this essay, and her feedback during the writing of the essay was invaluable. I would also like to thank Jacob Pichnarcik whose efforts at Interlibrary Loan & Microforms, Texas A&M University-Commerce, have, as always, made my work as a scholar much easier.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA

    Robin Anne Reid

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  1. Robin Anne Reid
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  1. College of Arts and Sciences, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, USA

    Christopher Vaccaro

  2. Ramapo College of New Jersey, Mahwah, New Jersey, USA

    Yvette Kisor

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Reid, R.A. (2017). Race in Tolkien Studies: A Bibliographic Essay. In: Vaccaro, C., Kisor, Y. (eds) Tolkien and Alterity. The New Middle Ages. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-61018-4_3

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