Ian Smith, "Black Shakespeare: Reading and Misreading Race" (Cambridge UP, 2022)
Nov 24, 2023
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Ian Smith, author of 'Black Shakespeare: Reading and Misreading Race', discusses the political and social ramifications of ignoring racial thinking in Shakespeare's plays. He explores the history of racial denial in Shakespeare studies, emphasizes the importance of acquiring racial literacy, and challenges interpretations of characters like Shylock in 'The Merchant of Venice'.
Developing racial literacy is crucial for analyzing Shakespeare's plays and understanding their wider political and social implications in today's United States.
Systemic whiteness in Shakespeare studies leads to racial blind spots, and readers need to overcome these biases by developing racial literacy.
Challenging traditional interpretations, Smith highlights the racial conflicts and dynamics in The Merchant of Venice and Hamlet, urging readers to reconsider their perceptions of characters and explore the racial elements in these plays.
Deep dives
The significance of racial literacy in Shakespearean criticism
Ian Smith emphasizes the importance of developing racial literacy in the analysis of Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and Hamlet. He argues that Shakespearean critics have been taught to ignore or downplay the racial elements of these plays, which has wider political and social implications in today's United States. Smith's book, Black Shakespeare Reading and Misreading Race, aims to shift the focus to the conditions that shape readers' epistemologies and influence their reading practices. By exploring the concept of systemic whiteness, Smith highlights how societies perpetuate bias and preferences through their institutions and systems, ultimately affecting readers' interpretations of racial elements in Shakespeare's works.
Ian Smith's approach to studying systemic whiteness
Smith investigates the causes behind the continued resistance to acknowledging and discussing race in Shakespeare studies, particularly focusing on systemic whiteness. He draws inspiration from Toni Morrison's concept of readers being positioned as white and explores the epistemological formation that predisposes readers to ignore certain evidence in texts. Smith argues that this systemic whiteness leads to racial blind spots and urges readers to develop racial literacy to overcome these biases. By examining the historical context of anti-literacy laws and definitions of blackness, Smith emphasizes the importance of understanding the dual movements in practices of reading and their impact on racialized interpretations.
Reevaluating the portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice
Smith challenges the traditional interpretation of Shylock as a bad businessman in The Merchant of Venice. Instead, he argues that Shylock's demand for a pound of Antonio's flesh highlights the racial conflict within the play. Smith suggests that the request for 'fair flesh' underscores the racial dimensions of the play, with Shylock reclaiming his identity and asserting the racial implications of his treatment. By examining Shakespeare's contrasting portrayal of fair mountain and more in Hamlet, Smith draws attention to the racial dynamics present in the play. He encourages readers to reexamine their perceptions of Shylock and to consider the racial elements of The Merchant of Venice.
Rethinking Blackness in Hamlet
Smith challenges traditional interpretations of Hamlet, exploring the racial dimensions of the play. He argues that Hamlet is part of a larger tradition in early modern theater that engages with race, and he invites readers to consider the play within that theatrical context. By examining the black Paris reference in Act 2, Scene 2, Smith highlights the significance of racial theater and its potential impact on Shakespeare's works. He suggests that Hamlet raises questions about how to tell the story of a black man, and prompts readers to grapple with their own perceptions of blackness. Smith's analysis seeks to make Shakespeare's works immediate and accessible to contemporary audiences by generating a dialogue about racial representation and identity.
Exploring racial complexities in Othello
Smith delves into the complexities of race in Othello and challenges the notion that Othello is simply an exception to the violent black man stereotype. He argues that the play prompts a profound ethical self-inquiry and serves as a platform for exploring racial distortion and the delegitimization of black life. Smith aims to make Othello relevant and accessible for contemporary readers by using Shakespeare's work to generate an investigation into the way blackness is portrayed in the play. He emphasizes the importance of engaging with Othello in a way that goes beyond scholarly analysis and performance, in order to navigate the complex world of racialized blackness.
In Black Shakespeare: Reading and Misreading Race (Cambridge University Press, 2022), Ian Smith urges readers of Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and Hamlet to develop “racial literacy.” Through both wide social influences and specific professional pressures, Shakespearean critics have been taught to ignore, suppress, and explain away the racial thinking of the plays, a set of evasion strategies that inevitably have political and social ramifications in the contemporary United States. As Ian writes in the introduction, Black Shakespeare is intended to “shift the focus to conditions that shape readers, inform their epistemologies, and influence their reading practices” (3).
Today’s guest is Ian Smith, Professor of English at the University of Southern California. Ian is the author of the previous monograph, Race and Rhetoric in the Renaissance: Barbarian Errors (Palgrave, 2009), as well as one of the most important articles in early modern literary criticism of the last twenty years, “Othello’s Black Handkerchief.” Ian is the current President of the Shakespeare Association of America.
John Yargo is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Environmental Humanities at Boston College. He holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. His specializations are early modern literature, the environmental humanities, and critical race studies. His dissertation explores early modern representations of environmental catastrophe, including William Shakespeare's The Tempest, Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, and John Milton's Paradise Lost. He has published in Early Theatre, Studies in Philology, The Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies, and Shakespeare Studies.
