Selected annotated 
bibliography of PCRS

This bibliography represents a selection of foundational texts in the field of premodern critical race studies (PCRS). It focuses on secondary sources examining premodern race and how constructions of difference in the past continue to reverberate today. While these entries treat a variety of sociohistorical and linguistic contexts, the studies themselves covered here are all produced in English. This is a continuously expanding document created by the ACMRS Postdoctoral Research Scholars in collaboration with the RaceB4Race Executive Board.

Period
Discipline

Davis, Kathleen, and Nadia Altschul, eds. Medievalisms in the Postcolonial World: The Idea of 'the Middle Ages' Outside Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009.

A collection of essays exploring the intersection of medievalism and postcolonialism. The work as a whole argues for the utility of the medieval/modern binary as a framing lens by which to deepen an understanding of postcolonial theory, as well as the various pertinences of postcolonial theory for understandings of “the medieval” situated outside Euro-American contexts. The essays consider sociohistorical sites in Africa, the Americas, East Asia, South Asia, and West Asia, and engage discussions in fields such as medieval history and postcolonial studies.

Medieval
History

Derbew, Sarah F. Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.

Explores the representation of black skin in ancient Greek materials between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE. The book argues for a differentiation between the cultural attitudes of Greek antiquity and contemporary cultural overlays onto antique materials to execute an anti-racist historiography binding classical contexts to contemporary receptions. The work engages conversations in performance studies, material culture, and Blackness.

Ancient

Earle, Thomas Foster, and Kate J. P. Lowe. Black Africans in Renaissance Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.

A collection of essays surveying a broad range of topics pertaining to Black persons’ representations and experiences in Europe across the 15th and 16th centuries. The works are thematically joined through an exploration of how Black people were racialized within the cultural frameworks of early modern Europe, attending mostly to social and cultural history in Portugal, Spain, and Italy. The essays vary widely in content and the volume thus intersects with a broad range of academic conversations in social history, cultural history, art history, literature, and more.

Early Modern
History

Eccleston, Sasha-Mae, and Dan-el Padilla Peralta. "Racing the Classics: Ethos and Praxis." American Journal of Philology 143, no. 2 Special Issue: Diversifying Classical Philology vol. 1, edited by Emily Greenwood (2022): 199–218.

A reflection on the "Racing the Classics" conference series between 2017 and the date of publication. The essay situates the history of the series within the nexus of countering white supremacy in academic studies of antiquity, offering both a roadmap for desired future outcomes and a series of techniques available to scholars and pedagogues.

Ancient

El Hamel, Chouki. Black Morocco: A History of Slavery, Race, and Islam. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Examines the history of slavery in Morocco from the beginning of the Islamic era through the reign of Mawlay Isma‘il in the 17th and 18th centuries. The book places special emphasis on the enslaved “Black army” and argues that, despite European travel narratives generally representing Morocco as free of racial prejudice, Black Moroccans were stigmatized and marginalized. It concludes with a profile of the Moroccan Gnawa, an ethnic group descended from enslaved Black people. The book analyzes slavery through the interplay of race, gender, and religion.

History

Erickson, Peter and Kim F. Hall, “'A New Scholarly Song': Re-Reading Early Modern Race,” Shakespeare Quarterly 67, no. 1 (2016) 1-13.

A historiographical exploration of critical race theory within Shakespeare studies in the context of establishment attempts at disappearing the subject matter of race from the field. Following a brief survey of three prior phases relevant to the critical analysis of race in this scholarly context, the essay provides an expansive prescriptive argument for future directions in premodern critical race theory.

Early Modern
Literature

Erickson, Peter. Citing Shakespeare: The Reinterpretation of Race in Contemporary Literature and Art. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.

Investigates contemporary citations of Shakespeare’s work in Anglophone texts in order to excavate a nuanced set of citational praxes. The book argues that Shakespeare is invoked by contemporary authors not only to celebrate the underpinnings of Euro-American culture, but to subject cultural landscapes to a critical lens. To do so, it attends to specific literary maneuvers which are each embedded within specific literary and visual artifacts. The work engages conversations in literary theory and Shakespeare studies.

Early Modern
Literature

Espinosa, Ruben. Shakespeare on the Shades of Racism. New York: Routledge, 2021.

Examines Shakespeare through conversations that interrogate the vulnerability of Black and brown people under oppressive structures. The book draws attention to aspects of Shakespeare’s works that illustrate people’s ethical responsibilities in the face of brutal racism. It addresses issues like the murder of unarmed Black people, militarization of the U.S. Mexico border, anti-immigrant laws, and healthcare inequities.

Early Modern
Literature

Espinosa, Ruben. "Stranger Shakespeare." Shakespeare Quarterly 67, no. 1 (2016): 51–67.

Interrogates Mexican-American student engagement with the works of Shakespeare in contemporary classrooms in the United States, with specific reference to conceptualizations of the "foreign" and "strange." The essay analyzes contemporary cultural inscriptions of Shakespeare through various forms of media. It engages conversations in the fields of Shakespeare studies, Mexican-American cultural history, and otherness.

Early Modern
Literature

Fuchs, Barbara. Exotic Nation: Maurophilia and the Construction of Early Modern Spain. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009.

Explores the postcolonial concept of hybridity within the construction of Iberia and its identity during the late 15th-17th centuries. Fuchs discusses the paradoxes in the cultural construction of Spain in relation to its "Moorish" heritage through an analysis of Spanish literature, costume, language, chivalric practices, and architecture. Fuchs argues that Spanish Iberian identity is obsessed with the “Moorish” form and the idea of maurophilia.

GhaneaBassiri, Kambiz. A History of Islam in America: From the New World to the New World Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

A reassessment of U.S. history with reference to Muslims in the regions that would become the United States. The first two chapters, "Islam in the 'New World'" and "Islamic Beliefs and Practice in Colonial and Antebellum America," explore premodern contexts with specific regard to how Muslims were conceptualized within a European Christian project of mercantile capitalism, and how Muslims experienced the American project themselves. The work is of interest to the study of U.S. history, religion, and colonialism, among other fields.

Early Modern
Religious Studies

Green-Mercado, Mayte. Visions of Deliverance: Moriscos and the Politics of Prophecy in the Early Modern Mediterranean. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2019.

Interrogates the production and circulation of prophecies among Muslims in the early modern Mediterranean, with specific attention to Morisco materials. The book attends to how prophecy and apocalypticism were key tools in Moriscos' resistance to forced conversion and assimilative programs, while simultaneously embedding them in a cross-cultural network of religious thought spanning the breadth of the Mediterranean. To do so, it takes up conversations in the study of religion, the Mediterranean, and apocalypticism.

Early Modern
Religious Studies

Greenwood, Emily. Afro-Greeks: Dialogues between Anglophone Caribbean Literature and Classics in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Analyzes the reception of Greco-Roman classics in the anglophone Caribbean between 1920 to the turn of the 21st century. The work explores the works of several authors—including Kamau Brathwaite, Austin Clarke, John Figueroa, C. L. R. James, V. S. Naipaul, Derek Walcott, and Eric Williams—to demonstrate how Caribbean writers claimed the Greco-Roman classics for themselves in a process of identity formation. The work engages conversations in the study of the classics, the Caribbean, and literary history.

Ancient

Greenwood, Emily. “Re-rooting the classical tradition: New Directions in Black Classicism.” Classical Receptions Journal 1.1 (2009): 87–103.

A review essay surveying several works in the field of Black classicism published between 2005 and 2008. The publications are marshalled to gesture toward new directions in the field of Black classicism which bridges Greco-Roman antiquity with more contemporary histories. The focus is on works which relate to Black American receptions of Greco-Roman antiquity, with an interest in how the field of Black classicism might expand further.

Ancient

Greenwood, Emily, ed. "Diversifying Classical Philology, Volume 1" special issue. American Journal of Philology 143, no. 2 (2022).

The first of two collections of essays which redraw the boundaries of classical philology as a discipline through a broad range of studies. Throughout, these collections deploy a practice of “intramural counter-philology” to produce critical reflections on classical philology as a discipline in North American contexts. The essays here engage ongoing conversations in the study of classics, North America, and race.

Ancient
Literature

Greenwood, Emily, ed. "Diversifying Classical Philology, Volume 2" special issue. American Journal of Philology 143, no. 4 (2022).

The second of two collections of essays which redraw the boundaries of classical philology as a discipline through a broad range of studies. Throughout, these collections deploy a practice of “intramural counter-philology” to produce critical reflections on classical philology as a discipline in North American contexts. The essays here engage ongoing conversations in the study of classics, North America, and race.

Ancient
Literature

Habib, Imtiaz H. Black Lives in the English Archives, 1500-1677: Imprints of the Invisible. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2008.

An expansive and detailed study of African, Native, and Indian persons whose lives are documented in the archives of 16th and 17th century England. The work provides both a chronological assessment of Black lives in early modern English contexts as well as arguments about the theoretical reconsiderations of the early modern period which these lives demand. Habib's work engages debates in the study of historiography, England, and captivity and enslavement.

Early Modern
Literature

Habib, Imtiaz H. Shakespeare and Race: Postcolonial Praxis in the Early Modern Period. Latham: University Press of America, 2002.

Explores the racializing projects specific to Shakespeare's context of 16th-century England, with special reference to captives and enslaved persons. Habib's project illuminates the connections between the race-making projects held on Elizabethan stages at the beginnings of English colonialism, as well as the impact of Black persons in England on Shakespeare's plays themselves. The work engages conversations in the study of England, English literature, Shakespeare, and colonialism.

Early Modern
History

Hahn, Thomas, ed. A Cultural History of Race in the Middle Ages. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2023.

A broad survey on how people enacted and experienced racializing differences from the 5th through the 16th centuries. The volume offers multi-disciplinary analysis of materials from across Europe, North Africa, and Western Asia, including literature in Hebrew, Latin, Arabic, and European vernaculars as well as visual artifacts and maps.

Medieval

Haley, Shelley P. "Be Not Afraid of the Dark: Critical Race Theory and Classical Studies." In Prejudice and Christian Beginnings: Investigating Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Early Christian Studies, edited by Laura Nasrallah and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. 27-49 Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009.

Interrogates the uses of contemporary heuristics of race and racism in the study of ancient Greek sociocultural contexts, in order to excavate racializing intellectual structures among contemporary analysts of the past. To do so, the essay explores themes in somatic and affective markers in Roman literatures while charting contemporary interpretations of the same. The work engages conversations in the study of Roman literature and embodiment.

Ancient
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