Shakespeare in the PostColonies: Legacies, Cultures and Social Justice
By (Author) Amrita Dhar
Edited by Amrita Sen
Series edited by Bi-qi Beatrice Lei
Series edited by Dr David Schalkwyk
Series edited by Silvia Bigliazzi
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
The Arden Shakespeare
26th June 2025
United Kingdom
Professional and Scholarly
Non Fiction
Theatre studies
Human rights, civil rights
Hardback
256
Width 138mm, Height 216mm
Shakespeare in the 'Post' Colonies provides a wide-ranging examination of engagements with and adaptations of Shakespeare in regions that were once under European colonial rule. Arguing for the 'Post' Colonies as a distinct category within Global Shakespeares, this volume explores the reality of 21st-century Shakespeares in geographies of postcolonial inheritance, such as continental Africa, Australasia, the Arab world, the Indian subcontinent, East Asia and the Americas. As former colonies in Asia and Africa cross fifty and even seventy years of political independence, contributors re-examine the presence of Shakespeare in marginalised or politically disenfranchised communities, interrogating how Shakespeare intersects with the internal and global power dynamics of post-independence nations. The essays cover a rich range of genres ranging from theatrical performances, translations, and cinematic adaptations to classroom strategies. They turn to texts that have often gone ignored and give voice to Shakespeare appropriations by subaltern groups. They address questions of race, gender, nationality, indigeneity, caste and class, and shed new light on the diverse range of contemporary Shakespeare engagements across global PostColonies.
Amrita Dhar is Assistant Professor of English at Ohio State University, USA. Amrita Sen is Associate Professor and Deputy Director of UGC-HRDC, University of Calcutta, India. She has co-edited Civic Performance: Pageantry and Entertainments in Early Modern London (2020), and a special issue of the Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies on 'Alternative Histories of the East India Company' (2017).