Sayet, Madeline. "A brief history of Indian policy." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/a-brief-history-of-indian-policy. [Date accessed].

A brief history of Indian policy

A bit of the history leading up to the start of the contemporary Native theater movement.

Download the transcript
Madeline Sayet
Arizona State University

To engage students in the performance history of Shakespeare in America, they need to be familiar with the political landscapes in which his plays were taught and staged. Further, to bring the Indigenizing Shakespeare Movement into our classrooms, it is imperative that our students are informed and knowledgeable of this history—one that most of them were never taught.

Further learning

Video

Indigenizing Shakespeare Movement

Many Native artists have found ways to reimagine Shakespeare, bridging communities to illustrate the importance of Indigenous language revitalization, Native art, and storytelling.

Madeline Sayet
Essay

Shakespeare and the history of Indian policy in the United States

It is important when teaching Shakespeare in America to acknowledge the colonial legacy that brought his texts to this land.

Madeline Sayet
Reading list

Indigenous Shakespeares

Selected readings to contextualize Shakespeare and indigeneity in your classroom.

Madeline Sayet

Recommended

Reading list

Reading the Doctrine of Discovery

Reading suggestions for a deeper dive into the centuries of jurisprudence for stealing Native lands set by an obscure early modern religious decree.

Scott Manning Stevens
Essay

Navigating mixed-race identities in Shakespeare

Titus Andronicus is a play that demonstrates early modern English dexterity with racial constructs. This nuance is demonstrated in part through its representations of racial mixing and mixed-race identity.

Kyle Grady
RaceB4Race Highlight

Shakespeare and the police

In his presentation at RaceB4Race in 2020, Little compares the policing of the Black body (Black persons) to intellectual theft that often surrounds Shakespeare and early modern studies.

Arthur L. Little, Jr.