Sayet, Madeline. "Indigenizing Shakespeare Movement." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/indigenizing-shakespeare-movement [Date accessed].

Indigenizing Shakespeare Movement

A brief overview of the movement and the productions that defined it.

Download the transcript
Madeline Sayet
Arizona State University

Shakespeare is at its best when everyone is allowed to decide what interests them and how to interpret it through their own perspectives. Many Native artists have found ways to reimagine Shakespeare, bridging communities to illustrate the importance of Indigenous language revitalization, Native art, and storytelling. Whether including Indigenous languages or adapting works to include a Native writer’s voice in English, these Shakespeare productions can only be built in Native-empowered spaces. Despite the original colonial intentions that forced Shakespeare on Native peoples, these productions say our languages are equal to or more complicated than Shakespeare’s.

Further learning

Video

A brief history of Indian policy

A bit of the history leading up to the start of the contemporary Native theater movement. While not a comprehensive history, this is a small ideological dip into some of the major cultural shifts and moments in policy.

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 race in Shakespeare

Suggested readings from Ian Smith for an in-depth understanding of the "cliché of race."

Ian Smith
Essay

The false conflation of indigeneity and race

It is imperative that, while teaching about indigeneity in our classrooms, we dissect how the term came to be and how it is often conflated with race. Using texts by Richard Hakluyt and Sir Thomas Browne help to demonstrate the conflation to students.

Scott Manning Stevens
Reading list

Indigenous sovereignty and The Tempest

A reading list to consider further the question of Indigenous sovereignty in The Tempest.

Scott Manning Stevens