ENGL 021. Shakespeare and Race

This course pursues a particular line of thinking about race and Shakespearean drama. In previous decades, scholarship emphasized how modern categories of race had not yet taken root in Shakespearean England. More recently, scholars have discerned the relevance of race and racism in Shakespeare’s plays. This course considers how the meaning of blackness and anti-black racism on stage develops alongside the shifting relationship between religious belief and dramatic entertainment. Titus Andronicus, The Merchant of Venice, and Othello will be our main primary texts; supplemental readings from The Tempest and the Sonnets possible as time permits. Attention to criticism and performance & film history.
Med/Ren.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Spring 2026. Johnson.
Spring 2027. Johnson.
Spring 2028. Johnson.
Catalog chapter: English Literature
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/english-literature

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