Sister Guineth on Authenticity

Authenticity

The views expressed in these essays are those of a lady who has over a quarter century of experience playing in the SCA. But they are not the official views of the SCA Inc. - however much her husband thinks they should be. :)

The questions come up from time to time: Why are so many SCAdians so very casual about authenticity? What IS authenticity? And what is the proper place for authenticity in the SCA, bearing in mind that the SCA is officially an educational non-profit organization?

Authenticity is not the prime directive for SCAdians. Truth to tell, authenticity is not even the starting place for a lot of SCAdians.

We are not, after all, reenactors. Our rules explicitly forbid us to assume personas named for and modelled on real historic people. We do not gather together to act out historic-medieval events; we gather together to play out events of our own. We recreate artifacts, we research cultures, we educate each other and others, but we don't usually reenact. Reenactment and recreation are not the same thing.

What is more, our “period” is not that of a mere decade or so, or even of only three or four centuries in a single culture; it encompasses over a thousand years and unnumbered cultures and peoples. When we assemble to play at the Middle Ages, the extent of our diversity makes genuine group authenticity a practical impossibility.

There are other groups who serve the needs of those who hunger for genuine authenticity. And information concerning those groups is usually available from informed SCAdians.

The SCA as a group caters to the beginner who is attracted to the color, the neat costumes, the fantasy that we are all of noble ancestry regardless of our titles or lack thereof, the play of manners, the music, the crafts, the funny stories, the similar interests in books, the unusual sports, the parties that are more than just a bunch of people getting drunk together .... We encourage people who want to do authenticity to do it, but we do not require strict authenticity for participation.

The SCA is several things, none of which is (or ever has been) a genuine group attempt at authentic medieval reenactment. Of the things the SCA is, how important any given part is depends entirely on the person playing.

• The SCA is a counterculture, protesting the drabness of much of everyday mundane existence and the uncouthness of so many of the parts of the everyday world that are not drab.

• The SCA is an extended family. Not true for everyone, but true for most of us.

• The SCA is a history club. It gives people who like to do research and recreate stuff an outlet for strutting their stuff even as amateurs and access to people with similar interests. Some of us educate ourselves; some of us have been formally educated; and we educate each other both formally and informally.

• The SCA is educational in yet another way: although the many cultures covered by our period vary so widely as to preclude genuine group authenticity, yet this very breadth of scope encourages SCAdians to learn about cultures that are outside their specific interest.

• The SCA is a game. We play at being "medieval" at events, but the extent to which one invests one's persona with authenticity is up to oneself. The rules for the game basically boil down to "play nice" and "try to give the impression of pre-1600".

So, what IS authenticity to a SCAdian? Good question. Authentic what? One can do one's poor best to recreate garb, artifacts, food or performing arts that would pass as appropriate to a specific time and place if one were to be transported back in time; many people do, and a well-made, well-documented recreation of this sort is often referred to as "authentic" in the SCA.

Authentic medieval attitudes are not really what we try to recreate at events, although some of us study medieval attitudes. We play at a semblance of medieval manners, but that is usually as far as it goes. Nor are we trying to revive the usage of medieval languages by the general populace at our events.

How does a person know someone or some thing is or isn't authentic?

You don't always. If you don’t know and you would like to know, ask the person about whom, or about whose garb or artifacts, you are wondering. Most people are pleased to be asked, especially if they made it themselves, and will talk your ear off about whatever it is.

How does a person try to make persona, garb and artifacts authentic when there is very little evidence available of material and social culture for a particular people, time and place?

Most of us use fantasy to fill in the gaps when there is little actual evidence available. :) In fact, some of us doubtless have chosen personas that would be impossible to document in detail because they don't want to deal with the self-appointed "authenticity police".

It is honorable, right and proper ("good form") to be certain that one makes the distinction between what one knows, what one surmises or extrapolates, and what one fantasizes, and not to spread fantasy as history.

In practice we strive for feel and flavor more than absolute authenticity. Most of us are amateurs; we don't have the resources or the knowledge to recreate everything from the ground up using only period technologies. Those of us who are interested in the research often play at doing mostly the specific stuff we are interested in.

Generally there are gaping holes in the authenticity of any one persona - in knowledge, in performance, in persona history (if any) and in the form and the technique of manufacture of at least some of the persona's artifacts and pursuits. It's getting so that SCAdians are more aware of where the gaps are than they used to be; that awareness is a good thing.

Persona contests and awards encourage more breadth of knowledge, more forsoothly performance, and a closer attention to period form and techniques, but those are not for everyone. And even persona contests don't always cover everything, if I am to judge by the published rules.

Those of us who do know something teach bits we know. Since we as a group cater to beginners and amateurs, there's a lot of education to be done even among ourselves. We educate each other first, as often as not in play; only then do we attempt to educate the general public via demos.

It all adds up to a surprising amount of education. Amateurs who have been playing in the SCA for a few years generally acquire a somewhat better grasp of medieval life and cultures than the mundanes we live among, even when the person in question is not one of the research nuts.

Even the occasional professional academically trained medievalist may learn something in the SCA about cultures outside his or her specialty, and possibly a different way of looking at evidence s/he thought s/he was already familiar with.

So how important is authenticity in the SCA? However many SCAdians are just playing at the Middle Ages, it is important that some of us work on research and authenticity. If not, we'd be primarily a fantasy club, not a history club, and the education thing would not apply. And it is important that everyone at least make a good-faith effort to look the part - at least from a distance.

By
Sister Guineth the White
Copyright © 2005, Emily S D Thompson