A university has removed the term Anglo-Saxon from module titles in an effort to “decolonise the curriculum”.
The University of Nottingham, a Russell Group member, offers its students leading courses in Anglo-Saxon history and literature, and it is also the only university in the country to have a Viking Studies course.
Professors have now decided to remove the term from a variety of the University's courses, including History and English Literature, and replace it with “Early Medieval English” - a phrase seen as favourable by some academics.
Many have come to view Anglo-Saxon as a term associated with racists - mainly those based in the US - who have been using the word to describe those descended from white early settlers.
University 'decolonises curriculum' by removing Anglo-Saxon module titleWikimedia Commons/PASome academics have said also that “Anglo-Saxon” is problematic as it suggests a distinct, native Englishness.
The University of Nottingham, in a move to tackle “nationalist narratives”, is also seeking to “problematize the term Viking”, The Daily Telegraph has reported.
They plan to rename an English Literature module currently entitled “A Tale of Seven Kingdoms: Anglo-Saxon and Viking-Age England from Bede to Alfred the Great” to “Early Medieval England from Bede to Alfred the Great”.
The move comes amid worries that there are connections between Nazim and Norse culture and mythology, with Hitler making use of Norse characters in his stylisation of the party.
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Professors at the university have now decided to remove the term from a variety of their courses
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The renaming has been slammed as “silliness on another level” by social media users, including those with ties to the university.
One said: “Wokeism is rewriting our history”, whilst another commented: “Nottingham University is on the road to ignorance and going broke”.
Priest David Palmer, who serves as a Chaplain to students at the university, said: “Seeing that “England” literally means “land of the Angles” this is silliness on another level!”
Anglo-Saxon is used to describe the cultural group of people who emerged in the aftermath of the fall of Roman Britain but before the Norman conquest in 1066.
Anglo-Saxon is used to describe the cultural group of people who emerged in the aftermath of the fall of Roman Britain but before the Norman conquest in 1066.
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The Angles, Saxons and Jutes - three Germanic peoples - arrived and ruled over what would later become a united England.
In recent years, the term has become increasingly controversial and in 2023, the University of Cambridge started teaching that they did not exist as a distinct ethnic group.
Following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, academic institutions around the world have started to try and “decolonise the curriculum”.
It has been described as the following: “Decolonising the curriculum is the process of recognising, challenging and dismantling the white-western male-elite domination of knowledge taught in the academy. This process leaves open the potential to re construct knowledge in partnership with diverse cultures and create inclusive ways of knowing and teaching.”
GB News has contacted the University of Nottingham for comment.
