Shakespeare in the Global South - (Global Shakespeare Inverted) by Sandra Young (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Contemporary adaptations of Shakespeare's plays have brought into sharp focus the legacies of slavery, racism and colonial dispossession that still haunt the global South. Looking sideways across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans to nontraditional centres of Shakespeare practice, Shakespeare in the Global South explores the solidarities generated by contemporary adaptations and their stories of displacement and survival. The book takes its lead from innovative theatre practice in Mauritius, North India, Brazil, post-apartheid South Africa and the diasporic urban spaces of the global North, to assess the lessons for cultural theory emerging from the new works.

Using the 'global South' as a critical frame, Sandra Young reflects on the vocabulary scholars have found productive in grappling with the impact of the new iterations of Shakespeare's work, through terms such as 'creolization', 'indigenization', 'localization', 'Africanization' and 'diaspora'. Shakespeare's presence in the global South invites us to go beyond familiar orthodoxies and to recognize the surprising affinities felt across oceans of difference in time and space that allow Shakespeare's inventiveness to be a part of the enchanting subversions at play in contemporary theatre's global currents.

Review Quotes

"Shakespeare in the Global South is a critical triumph! Young brilliantly challenges Shakespeare studies and contemporary cultural studies through her insightful readings. She crafts a careful, beautiful, and ultimately optimistic book." --Ayanna Thompson, Arizona State University, USA

"An important addition to the field of global Shakespeare studies. This work is of interest to scholars and teachers of global Shakespeare and Shakespeare beyond the Anglophone; moreover, it is an important resource for scholars of Shakespeare and performance. The varied geographies Young traverses in the study exhibit the transformative ways in which artists and creators approach, challenge and adapt Shakespeare to suit their own social, cultural and political ends." --Ambereen Dadabhoy, Harvey Mudd College, USA, Shakespeare in the Global South

"The most important contribution this book has made to the field ... is the examination of the critical terminology that populates Global Shakespeare Studies ... Though each chapter has a case study at its center ... it is the detailed examination of the terminology that proliferates Global Shakespeare studies which provides a useful and effective critical frame to theorize cultural difference." --Koel Chatterjee, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, UK, Borrowers and Lenders

"An important contribution ... Young's book draws attention to the ways in which Shakespeare's plays and legacy have entered into the so-called 'Global South' and shaped theatrical and artistic practices of non-Western, non-Anglophone regions." --Molly Ziegler, The Open University, UK, Scottish Journal of Performance

About the Author