Breakfast and Brainstorm: Teaching Shakespeare with Inclusive Histories

Breakfast and Brainstorm: Teaching Shakespeare with Inclusive Histories - A Workshop for Educators

Sunday, 14 December

Location: Islamia Auditorium, Islamia College, 409 Imam Haron Road, Landsdowne

This event is FREE for all educators based at South African schools, colleges, universities, colleges, and other secondary and tertiary institutions.

What did Shakespeare know about Africans, Muslims, Asians, Jews, and other non-European, non-Christian communities? How might the immigrant communities living and working in Shakespeare's England, which included Black Africans, have influenced the representation of Black characters, like Othello, on stage? Would these insights help students approach the writer's works?

Over the past few decades, scholars have shown that Shakespeare's world was far more interconnected and globalised than historians had previously acknowledged. This workshop explores how some of this history can be useful to teaching Shakespeare to school students in South Africa now.

We invite you to join us for an informal 'breakfast brainstorm' session, to reflect together on the challenges for teaching Shakespeare in South Africa today, and to creatively explore the teaching value of new historical approaches to Shakespeare's plays.

Programme:

10:00 - 11:00 am - Coffee Chat: Teaching Reflections

In this session, attendees will be invited to offer their thoughts and experiences of teaching Shakespeare. This will be an informal discussion, had over tea, coffee, pastries, and a delicious breakfast.

11:00 - 12:30 pm - New Research and Resources

In this session, attendees will be introduced to resources that they might find useful for their teaching. This will include but won't be limited to the Medieval and Early Modern Orients platform, resources from the #ShakespeareRaceandPedagogy project, and the virtual Shakespeare game, Play the Knave.

Spaces are limited, so book your place now to avoid disappointment!

This event is part of the Medieval and Early Modern Orients: New Encounters conference, which is co-hosted by the research collective Medieval and Early Modern Orients (MEMOs), the UCT Department of English Literary Studies, the Shakespeare Society of Southern Africa, as well as The Tsikinya-Chaka Centre (University of Witwatersrand).

We are delighted to be collaborating with Educasions Theatre Company on this workshop.

For more information on the New Encounters conference, visit the conference site here.