Course Description
Introduces students to Shakespeare’s work through the work of multicultural American writers and performers who have engaged with the Bard.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Students will demonstrate their ability to synthesize a large
body of historical, literary, and performance material through
writing an annotated bibliography and a substantial research
paper. Students will demonstrate their commitment to scholarly
collaboration and to pedagogy by creating collaborative learning
guides to texts studied
Athena Title
Multicultural Shakespeare
Equivalent Courses
Not open to students with credit in ENGL 4334E, ENGL 4334S or ENGL 6334E, ENGL 6334S
Undergraduate Prerequisite
Two 2000-level ENGL courses or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 3000-level ENGL course) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Graduate Prerequisite
Permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Goals (Holistic) • Introduce students to Shakespeare’s plays and poems • Introduce students to a range of multicultural American literary and cultural texts • Introduce students to prose, verse, and dramatic literary forms • Encourage students to reflect upon the function of literature in the twenty-first-century United States and upon themselves as learners and citizens Learning Outcomes (Cognitive, Social, Emotional, Experiential: from Bloom, L. Anderson, L. Dee Fink. R. Kolb) •Students will understand, recall, and be able to identify, apply, and ultimately create traditional and non-traditional verse, prose, and dramatic literary forms used in Shakespeare and in multicultural American literature • Students will analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of such forms in the works we read and view •Students will take ownership of their own learning and reflect upon the value of what they are studying Learning Objectives • Students will analyze, contrast, and evaluate assigned readings in short essays and responses • Students will demonstrate their intellectual curiosity and ownership of the material by creating and synthesizing original creative works or research papers of their own in response to readings and viewings •Students will demonstrate their deep engagement with the texts they are reading and with the opportunities and challenges of living in a diverse twenty-first-century society through a portfolio of their work submitted to the instructor and through a public-facing poster presentation describing their research or creative work from the class Benchmarks *Analytical Discussion postings or short essays or blog posts *Response postings or peer-commentary *Annotated bibliography and research paper or creative project *Reflective journals and postings *Final portfolio of revised analytical, response, and reflective work
Topical Outline
Curricula will vary according to individual instructors, but a sample set of readings might include the following: Unit 1: Much Ado About Multicultural Shakespeare Adaptation 1.1: Much Ado About Nothing 1.2: Much Ado About Nothing, dir./adapted Kenny Leon (2019) Secondary Readings: from Sujata Iyengar, Shakespeare, and Adaptation Theory; Linda Hutcheon, A Theory of Adaptation; Ange-Marie Hancock, Intersectionality: An Intellectual History Unit 2: Race and Religion 2.1 Merchant of Venice 2.2 District Merchants (Aaron Posner) 2.3: Fiddler on the Roof Secondary Readings: Farrah Lehmann Den, “’Nisht kayn Desdemona”; Adam Meyer, “Shylock in the African American Imagination”; from Geraldine Heng, The Invention of Race Unit 3: Blackness and Negritude 3.1: Othello 3.2: Desdemona (Toni Morrison and Rokia Traouré) 3.3: Othello: The Remix (Q Brothers) 3.4 (upon student request) Introduction to Critical Race Theory Secondary Readings: Ayanna Thompson, Blackface; Kim F. Hall, Things of Darkness; Vanessa Corredera, Revisioning Othello; articles by Jo Carney and Peter Erickson Unit 4: Ghosts of the past 4.1: Hamlet 4.2: Fat Ham, by James Ijames 4.3: Children of a Fireland (Gary Pak) or Asiamnesia (Sun Mee Chomet) 4.4: “The Undiscovered Country” (William Sanders) Secondary Readings: Alan Young, "Sarah Bernhardt's Ophelia"; Teresa diPasquale, "Shakespeare and the Ali'i Nui" Unit 5: Empire(s) 5.1. The Tempest 5.2: Mama Day (Gloria Naylor) 5.3: Prospero’s Daughter (Elizabeth Nuñez) Secondary Readings: from Ronald Takaki, From Different Shores; Jeff Biggers, "Who's Afraid of The Tempest"; additional materials on the Arizona Ethnic Studies ban; Jodi Byrd, The Transit of Empire Unit 6: Romance, Speculative History, and Latinidad 6.1: Romeo and Juliet 6.2: William Shakespeare’s R+J, dir. Baz Luhrmann 6.3: West Side Story (1961) 6.4: West Side Story (2021)