British Shakespeare Association Biennial Conference 2005
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Programme : Panels - Seminars - Workshops
Seminar - Shakespeare and the Exotic
Saturday 3rd September 2005, 9.30-11.00am,
Bedson Teaching Centre LG35
Participants | Call for Papers
Participants
Convenor - Joan Fitzpatrick,
University College Northampton
Convenor - Jane Kingsley-Smith,
University of Hull
Amanda Penlington, University of the West of England
"'For I am Welsh, you know, good countrymen': Assimilating
the exotic 'other' from 1 Henry IV to Henry V"
Elaine Brennan, Cardiff University
"Marooned on Mandeville Island: Intertextuality and
alternative societies in The Tempest"
Call for Papers
Below is the original Call for Papers, as circulated. Please note that the date for submissions has passed and the successful participants are listed above.
Convenors: Joan Fitzpatrick (University College, Northampton) and Jane Kingsley-Smith (University of Hull)
This seminar will focus on that which is exotic, or strange, in Shakespeare's drama and poetry. Shakespeare has traditionally been lauded as England's national poet and has been represented by some as a spokesman for Englishness but increasingly scholars have attended to his radical and nuanced exploration of the relationship between nationhood (often a matter of cultural affiliations) and state-formation. The role, or perceived role, of the individual within the state is determined by nationality, ethnicity and language and any sense of that which is exotic develops alongside (and even symbiotically within) the familiar. Shakespeare is particularly alert to the tensions that emerge between the two and the extent to which the exotic is incorporated is a point of interest in many of his works.
Papers might usefully focus on changing national boundaries and the impact of an increasingly multicultural early modern London upon those who thought of themselves as English nationals and the degree to which efforts to assimilate succeed or fail. Representations of that which would have been considered unfamiliar to a typical early modern audience or readership might include ethnic and religious minorities (Jews, Muslims), foreigners (the Spanish, the Welsh), or the past (Rome, Ancient Britain) or those categories that mediate between exotic and familiar such as English Catholicism. The degree to which something is viewed as strange and its perceived influence upon the dominant ideology might be considered alongside early modern conceptions of the everyday in order to establish and perhaps interrogate that which might have been ordinarily accepted as 'the norm'. Shakespeare's use of exotic source material, the relationship between his view of the exotic and that of his contemporaries, and the impact of his views upon subsequent writers are all possible topics for discussion. Other topics which might prove useful include Shakespeare's treatment of foreign languages, food, clothing or behaviour.
Please view the website at: www.JoanFitzpatrick.org/exoticSHAKESPEARE
Contact: Joan Fitzpatrick (mail@joanfitzpatrick.org)
and Jane Kingsley-Smith (J.E.Kingsley-Smith@hull.ac.uk)
