The Origins of Global Shakespeare Studies

The guest editor of a special issue of Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance invites submissions on the topic of “The Origins of Global Shakespeare Studies”

How did Shakespeare enter global circulation on such a mass scale, allowing for the establishment of formal organs of teaching and research, in so many different nations?  How has a majority of the world’s population accrued at least a passing familiarity with Shakespeare?  Perhaps most importantly, how did Shakespeare come to enter curricula and permeate academic culture in such diverse institutions across the world?  The papers in this issue will explore the origins of the institutions that have perpetuated and maintained Shakespeare studies as an academic discipline in different national cultures.  They will also canvass and interrogate the diverse methodologies that scholars use to study the plays, and how these diverse approaches have made Shakespeare so malleable and adaptable to different national, cultural, and ethnic traditions.  

We invite papers (6,000 - 6,500 words) that explore the development of Shakespeare scholarship and teaching in any national (or transnational) culture. Papers might explore Shakespeare’s place in the curricula in different countries; the figures instrumental in making Shakespeare studies plausible, possible, and desirable; the different emphases in Shakespeare scholarship in various cultural traditions; or any other aspect of the origins of institutional Shakespeare studies. Some also investigate the special emphasis placed on specific plays in certain national contexts during times of crisis.

Abstracts (300-400 words) should be sent to Mark Bayer (mark.bayer@utsa.edu)

Deadline for abstracts:  April 15, 2022

Deadline for submissions:   December 15, 2022

For more information on the journal and this special issue:  https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/szekspir/index