Sayet, Madeline. "Indigenizing Shakespeare Movement." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/indigenizing-shakespeare-movement [Date accessed].

Indigenizing Shakespeare Movement

A brief overview of the movement and the productions that defined it.

Download the transcript
Madeline Sayet
Arizona State University

Shakespeare is at its best when everyone is allowed to decide what interests them and how to interpret it through their own perspectives. Many Native artists have found ways to reimagine Shakespeare, bridging communities to illustrate the importance of Indigenous language revitalization, Native art, and storytelling. Whether including Indigenous languages or adapting works to include a Native writer’s voice in English, these Shakespeare productions can only be built in Native-empowered spaces. Despite the original colonial intentions that forced Shakespeare on Native peoples, these productions say our languages are equal to or more complicated than Shakespeare’s.

Further learning

Video

A brief history of Indian policy

A bit of the history leading up to the start of the contemporary Native theater movement. While not a comprehensive history, this is a small ideological dip into some of the major cultural shifts and moments in policy.

Madeline Sayet
Essay

Shakespeare and the history of Indian policy in the United States

It is important when teaching Shakespeare in America to acknowledge the colonial legacy that brought his texts to this land.

Madeline Sayet
Reading list

Indigenous Shakespeares

Selected readings to contextualize Shakespeare and indigeneity in your classroom.

Madeline Sayet

Recommended

Video

Witnessing whiteness in the early modern world

It is crucial to scrutinize whiteness when exploring early modern constructions of social difference with students. Students are not often taught to see issues of white privilege and power.

Kim F. Hall
Video

Racial mixing in Titus Andronicus

Teaching Titus Andronicus can open up conversations about early modern English familiarity with race, racial difference, and mixed-race identity.

Kyle Grady
Reading list

Reading the violent Black man myth in Hamlet

Suggested readings from Ian Smith for interrogating the role of race and the violent Black man myth in Hamlet.

Ian Smith