In recent years, medieval studies have become increasingly aware of how enmeshed they are in fascist ideologies as medieval imagery is weaponized and scholarly discourse appropriated for political ends. These developments have brought into view how medieval studies as a discipline have its origins in the epistemic frameworks of 19th-century scholarship. In order to better integrate the study of the Makuritan period with these broader theoretical discussions in medieval studies, from which it has remained somewhat removed thus far, this keynote will address the genesis of Nubian studies by way of the rediscovery of the Makuritan period and the discourses through which these origins continue to determine the present field in numerous ways, and provide perspectives on how to mitigate these issues in the future.