The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Race

Premodern critical race studies, long intertwined with Shakespeare studies, has broadened our understanding of the definitions and discourse of race and racism to include not only phenotype, but also religious and political identity, regional, national, and linguistic difference, and systems of differentiation based upon culture and custom. Replete with fresh readings of the plays and poems, The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare and Race brings together some of the most important scholars thinking about the subject today.

The volume offers a thorough overview of the most significant theoretical and methodological paradigms such as critical race theory, feminist, and postcolonial studies; a dynamic look at intersections of race with queer, trans, disability, and indigenous studies; and a vibrant array of new approaches from ecocriticism, to animality, and human rights, from book history, to scholarly editing, and repertory studies; and an exploration of Shakespeare and race in our contemporary moment through discussions of political activism, pedagogy, visual arts, film, and theatre. Woven through the collection are the voices of practicing theatre professionals who have grappled with the challenges of race and racism both in performance and in the profession itself.

Patricia Akhimie, Director, Folger Institute, Folger Shakespeare Library, and Director, RaceB4Race Mentorship Network

Patricia Akhimie is Director of the Folger Institute at the Folger Shakespeare Library, and Director of the RaceB4Race Mentorship Network. From 2011 to 2023, she served as Assistant and then Associate Professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark, where she received the Warren I. Susman Award for Excellence in Teaching (2021) and the Excellence in Online Teaching Award (2023). She is author of Shakespeare and the Cultivation of Race: Race and Conduct in the Early Modern World (Routledge, 2018), co-editor, with Bernadette Andrea of Travel and Travail: Early Modern Women, English Drama, and the Wider World (University of Nebraska Press, 2019), and editor of the Arden Othello (4th series). Her research has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Folger Shakespeare Library, the John Carter Brown Library, and the Ford Foundation.