Mini: Shakespeare in the Borderlands with Dr. Katherine Gillen and Ruben Ramirez of Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva

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Each year, in recognition of the National Day of Mourning/Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, we examine how British colonialism is irrevocably intertwined with Shakespeare. Over the past four years, we explored this topic through close reading of Jyotsna Singh's Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory.

After completing our episodes on Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory, we wanted to turn to highlighting and amplifying the work of artists, activists, and scholars who are working in decolonial Shakespeares.

In this year's episode, we are joined by Dr. Katherine Gillen and Ruben Ramirez of the Borderlands Shakespeare Collectiva to discuss how artists, activists, scholars, and educators in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands engage with Shakespeare in ways that reflect their lived realities. We discuss the plays from this region that adapt or appropriate Shakespeare and how these texts can be used in the classroom or in production alongside Shakespeare's text to illuminate themes and engage new audiences. We also learn more about the work of Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva and how they uplift and amplify this work, connecting scholarship with theatrical performance.

For more on the work of Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva, or to get involved, visit their website at https://borderlandsshakespeare.org/.

For more on Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory, check out our previous episodes from this series:

• Mini: Shakespeare and the Colonial Imagination
• Mini: Shakespeare's World: Immigrants, Others, and Foreign Commodities
• Mini: "Decolonize the Mind" through Shakespeare
• Mini: Intercultural and Global Shakespeare in a Postcolonial World

Katherine Gillen is Professor of English and Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Texas A&M University–San Antonio. With Kathryn Vomero Santos and Adrianna M. Santos, she co-founded the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva and is co-editing the three-volume anthology, The Bard in the Borderlands: An Anthology of Shakespeare Appropriations en La Frontera. She is also working on a monograph titled The Renaissance of Whiteness: The Classical Foundations of Shakespeare's Racial Politics, which examines Shakespeare's use of classical sources within the context of emerging racial capitalism.

Ruben Ramirez is an MA student at Texas A&M- San Antonio and currently serving in a Graduate Assistantship Research position with the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva. His research interests include Latino/a/x literature, Ecocriticism, Environmental Justice, and Decolonial Theory.

Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva is an award-winning group of scholars, educators, artists, and activists who engage with Shakespeare in ways that reflect the lived realities of the U.S.–Mexico Borderlands. We aim not only to change the way Shakespeare is taught and performed but also to promote the socially just futures envisioned en el arte de La Frontera.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

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