Mini: "Decolonize the Mind" through Shakespeare
Each year, in recognition of the National Day of Mourning/Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, we examine how British colonialism is irrevocably intertwined with Shakespeare. This year, we are taking a look at how Shakespeare's works have been used to critique the legacy of colonialism.
We will look at how adaptations of Shakespeare's work from Martinique, Barbados, Cuba, and Kenya have utilized Shakespeare's stories and characters to represent and unpack the effects of colonialism. We also discuss a 2011 Palestinian production of A Midsummer Night's Dream that intentionally worked to create post-colonial version of Dream.
Because of current events at the time we are releasing this podcast, we also encourage our listeners to learn more about colonialism as it relates to Palestine and have included additional resources below.
Kourtney Smith (KS): Welcome to another Shakespeare Anyone mini-episode! In these mini-episodes, we’ll be exploring topics that are related to Shakespeare but aren’t necessarily connected to whatever play we’ve been discussing.
Elyse Sharp (ES): And they’re mini, because, well, they’re shorter than our other episodes. They’re like quartos if the regular episodes are folio editions.
KS: In today’s Thanksgiving mini-episode, we’ll be discussing postcolonial theory in Shakespeare. This episode is a continuation of our Intro to Postcolonial Theory, this time focusing on the “Decolonize the mind” movement from writers of the 1950s, 60s and 70s who adapted and appropriated Shakespeare’s texts for their liberation.
ES: And, as Kourtney continues writing these episodes, she acknowledges that the study of postcolonial theory in Shakespeare is so vast that we still need to cover this topic as a mini-series. Subsequent episodes will discuss the colonization of Ireland, anti-semitism in The Merchant of Venice, racism in Othello, the aftermath of colonialism, and, of course, postcolonial performance, past and present.
KS: In addition to our mini-series, we will dive deeper into this topic during our The Tempest, Othello and Merchant of Venice series, respectively.
ES: The reason we are releasing this episode on Thanksgiving is because we believe in deconstructing and decolonizing our readings of, as we said in our trailer, this old white dude, William Shakespeare. Art is not created in a vacuum. People create the art we consume for a reason. So let’s re-examine the Renaissance man through colonialism.
KS: We also want to acknowledge Jyotsna G. Singh’s 2019 book Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory (published by Arden Shakespeare) as our primary source today, as well as Samer Al-Saber’s 2016 article Beyond Colonial Tropes: Two Productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Palestine. And, as we will be discussing colonialism, we will cover topics that may be triggering for some people. Please listen with care.
ES: But first, here is a quick refresher: during Thanksgiving 2021 we discussed the colonial imagination. To sum up that mini-episode, early modern England’s colonial imagination was a result of trade and sea exploration made possible by an emerging British Empire. While Shakespeare didn’t participate in proto colonial activities directly, he and his plays might have been influenced by the travel writers who were documenting their travels, as well as the people they encountered abroad.
KS: Last Thanksgiving we discussed how mercantilism complicated early modern identity by labeling foreigners and immigrants “others” while also consuming their material culture. In addition to the material, a postcolonial lens allows us to imagine Shakespearean audiences as cosmopolitan and worldly, enjoying imaginings, good or bad, about Africans, Middle Easterners and Indians.
ES: Go back and listen if you haven’t already.
KS: So, now that we’ve covered our bases… let’s dive in!
ES: According to Singh, a key imperative of postcolonial theory is to question and reinvent the way in which a culture or society is represented, especially within the histories of colonialism. And we see this interrogation as we move away from the early modern period and leap all the way to the decolonization movements of the mid-20th century.
KS: Decolonization writers dismantled and reassembled the Shakespearean text in radical ways, and we’ll explore some of those key works. It’s important to note that, during this era, postcolonial theory had not emerged in intellectual spaces (wait until 1978!), so we will discuss works that “Decolonized the mind” using Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
ES: First, let’s begin with Aimé Césaire’s 1969 play Une Tempête, or A Tempest. Césaire was born in 1913 on the Caribbean island, Martinique, a French island-colony. He was French-educated and, after living in Paris, began to radically interrogate European civilization and its claim to superiority. Césaire coined the term “Negritude” as an ideological response to the “colonial situation, a psychological and cultural search for a black, pan-African identity untainted by colonial domination.” This concept was the rallying cry for a liberated black identity and is evident in A Tempest.
KS: In Césaire’s adaptation, Prospero is a white master, Ariel is a mulatto slave and Caliban is a black slave. The text is re-claimed by multiple contexts including contemporary Caribbean history; African, Yoruba mythology; and the African-American experience. We can see his idea of Negritude played out through Ariel and Caliban’s tensions between revolutionary and assimilationist drives by the colonized, as well as Césaire’s Prospero remaining on the island to display colonization’s long-lasting effects.
ES: One aspect to Césaire’s play is the dynamic between Caliban’s resistance to colonization, while Prospero claims that he has civilized the “cannibal” with language and knowledge. Caliban specifically describes the theft of his identity: “Like a man without a name. Or, to be more precise, a man whose name has been stolen. You talk about history…well that’s history…Every time you summon me it reminds me of a basic fact, the fact that you’ve stolen everything from me, even my identity.”
KS: Barbadian author George Lamming similarly draws from the Caliban-Prospero relationship in his 1960 extended biographical meditation The Pleasures of Exile. Through Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Lamming describes the legacy of colonialism in shaping the West Indian man. His appropriation of Shakespeare’s text is a reading of his life as a black man and the historical forces that shaped him.
ES: Lamming writes of the dynamic of the colonizer/colonized, “Caliban is his [Prospero’s] convert, colonized by language, and excluded by language … Yet Prospero is [also] afraid of Caliban. He is afraid because he knows his encounter with Caliban is, largely, an encounter with himself … Caliban plots murder against Prospero, not in hatred, and not in fear, but out of a deep sense of betrayal.”
KS: Lamming also writes of Caliban’s multiple positions as a child of nature who is also, in the colonial economy, a slave: “A slave is a project, a source of energy, organized in order to exploit Nature.” Lamming, a writer of mixed Afro-English parentage, considers himself both a descendent of slaves and a descender of Prospero. Singh argues that Lamming’s deeply personal appropriation of The Tempest offers us an apt analogue for the processes of dialogic postcolonial re-rereadings.
ES: Caliban is such a popular response to colonialism that our next figure wrote his iconic 1971 post-cum-manifesto after the character himself. Cuban writer and political figure Roberto Fernandez Retamar turned the “savage” into a metaphor for revolutionary potential. While some responses to Cuban liberation valorized Ariel as a native intellectual, Retamar argued, “Our symbol then is not with Ariel … but rather Caliban.”
KS: He continues: “This is something that we, the mestizo inhabitants of these same isles where Caliban lived, see with particular clarity: Prospero invaded the islands, killed our ancestors, enslaved Caliban, and taught him his language to make himself understood. What can Caliban do but use that same language – today he has no other – to curse him … what is our history, what is our culture, if not the history and culture of Caliban?”
ES: In the same year that Retamar and Césaire’s works were published, the Barbadian poet E. P. Kamau Brathwaite published a poem “Caliban” in his book of poems, Islands. “Caliban” is influenced by the orality, performance and popular traditions of the West Indies and Africa, since Brathwaite interpreted Caliban as a Caribbean slave from Africa in the New World. The poem also recounts three historical dates – December 2, 1956, August 1, 1838, and October 12, 1492. These dates correspond to the beginning of the Cuban Revolution, the abolition of slavery in the English-speaking Caribbean and Christopher Columbus’ first voyage. The dates are presented in reverse chronology so that the reader/listener experiences the upheavals in a backwards order.
KS: One final appropriation of The Tempest emerges from Kenyan writer and revolutionary Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o’s 1967 A Grain of Wheat. Ngũgĩ’s novel is set in the wake of the indigenous Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya’s independence from Britain. Rather than center on Caliban, Ngũgĩ transports a Prospero-like colonial functionary to Kenya under British rule. Named John Thompson, this Prospero plans to write a book about Kenya called Prospero in Africa that embodies western imperialism.
ES: Thompson’s idealism for a “British nation, embracing peoples of all colors and creeds” leads him to impose on the Kenyan Mau Mau independence movement, head a concentration camp that interned resistance figures, and even be implicated in eleven deaths. Much like the British response to the historic Mau Mau rebellion, Ngũgĩ’s Thompson justifies his behavior in Kenya by relying on the colonial binary of civilization and barbarism: “Mau Mau is evil; a movement, which if not checked, will mean complete destruction of all the values on which our civilization has thriven.”
KS: These five appropriations of Shakespeare’s The Tempest were certainly pivotal anti-colonial works that elevated “Decolonize the mind” as a form of resistance. However, the paradigm shifted following Edward Said’s 1978 book Orientalism.
ES: Said, a Palestinian-American academic and literary critic, was intent on “unmasking the making and operation of colonial discourses”, which requires recognizing the rhetorical power of language and culture. Said wrote, “Culture … is to be found operating within civil society, where the influence of ideas, of institutions, and of other persons, works not through domination, but by … certain cultural forms [that] predominate others.”
KS: Postcolonial theory participates in a discursive and intellectual shift under the rubric of critical theory, including historicism, cultural materialism, critical race studies, feminism, and, also, Shakespeare studies. These shifts in Shakespeare studies include examining Western imperialism’s legacy, representations of race, ethnicity and “otherness”, as well as Englishness and/or whiteness.
ES: Now, we are running out of time to discuss specific postcolonial readings, so we will save those for next year. However, before we go, we want to discuss one Palestinian Shakespeare performance that is incredibly relevant to our current historical moment.
KS: Before that, we want to acknowledge that, as of this episode’s launch, Israel is committing war crimes on Gaza. This is a hot button topic, but we, at Shakespeare Anyone? Podcast, stand with Palestine, and we invite our listeners to join us in learning about the history of Palestine, the colonial project of Israel, and the apartheid conditions of modern-day Palestine. We have a few recommendations that we think are useful, and you can find those in the episode description. Here are a few:
ES: For starters, we recommend reading The Hundreds’ Year War On Palestine by Rashid Khalidi. If you’d prefer to watch something, we recommend The Empire Files’ Gaza Fights for Freedom or any Empire Files media. You can also check out the additional books, documentaries, articles and podcast episodes linked in the episode description.
KS: In addition, follow and support Palestinian journalists, activists, organizers, writers, artists and any other public-facing figures speaking out online. We have linked some figures, as well as active organizations you can work with, in the episode description.
ES: So, now that we’re here… how does Shakespeare intersect with Palestine?
KS: Western theatre in Palestine was influenced by missionary schools that opened during the Ottoman and British Mandate periods of 1920-48, and those years heavily emphasized Shakespeare in school curricula and on stage. According to Palestinian director Samer Al-Saber, the continuing pattern makes it interesting to ask: “How do contemporary productions of Shakespearen plays in Palestine … work to differentiate themselves from the so-called Universal Shakespeare and its history as an ideological tool of empire?” Al-Saber was able to turn that question into an answer.
ES: In 2011, The Al-Kasaba Theatre Academy in Ramallah partnered with Folkwang University, and the programme’s goals reflect a desire to seek students who wish to effect social change and impact Palestinian society. When Folkwang hosted its Shakespeare festival, an international exchange with its partner universities, Al-Saber was presented with an opportunity as a director to look for an alternative, consciously postcolonial approach to producing A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Palestine.
KS: Al-Saber pointedly wrote in the production’s programme notes, “Shakespeare’s work is not universal.” He pondered “If the starting point for this production were a group of Palestinian acting students in a nation under occupation, what might the production look like?” He goes on, “We start from the mess: An ugly apartheid wall, epistemological destruction, psychological damage, and social disintegration. From mess, confusion, rubble and forced illusion, we built.” Finally, he concludes, “From Palestine, our starting point, we launched into self-discovery and revelation.”
ES: At first, the outside/inside tension between everyday Palestinian life (occupation) and the freedom of theatre affected rehearsals. So company-building exercises and open discussions were incorporated to foster a culture of conflict resolution. For example, the actors improvised personal stories of everyday life, or “Palestinian Moments”, and brought in photographs, props and music for their characters. Through this work, rehearsals transformed to a “decolonized democratic creative space” for the actors.
KS: This state of chaos and disarray informed the remainder of the rehearsal process, and the play’s production concept emerged from the actor’s understanding of the play and their locale in Palestine. In addition, Ibrahim Mozain, director of the academy, suggested that ropes would be props to build abstract trees. The actors worked with them like a group of circus performers and that became the set. Some rehearsals included choreographer Petra Barghouti and site-specific rehearsals to run the play in the forest.
ES: The final production was “a mixture of the inescapable English origins of the play, Palestinian moments, a Shakespearen plot, found objects and bodies of Palestinian youth constantly between the ‘outside’ occupation and the ‘inside’ freedoms within the Academy.” Actors began the play preparing for performance; some characters spoke in street vernacular; some dressed traditionally, others not. And one pointedly political choice was when Tom Snout played the Wall wearing a jalabiya printed with the image of the Israeli Wall near the Qalandiya checkpoint.
KS: That’s all the time we have today. So, to sum up this episode, Shakespeare is a double-edged sword. He is a tool for both imperialism and liberation. To put him into one category over the other is an incomplete look at Shakespeare as an open source text.
ES: And we aren’t offering any tips for celebrating Thanksgiving this year. Instead, we want to motivate everyone to get in the streets for Palestine, or support however you can.
KS: As Emilia says in Othello, “I know a lady in Venice would have walked barefoot to Palestine for a touch of his nether lip.”
ES: Thank you for listening to this episode.
Quote of the Episode:
ES: From Macbeth, act one, scene three, said by Third Witch, “A drum, a drum: Macbeth doth come.”
Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.
Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.
Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com
You can support the podcast at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone
Works referenced:
Al-Saber, Samer. “Beyond Colonial Tropes: Two Productions of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ in Palestine.” Critical Survey, vol. 28, no. 3, 2016, pp. 27–46. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26384116. Accessed 21 Nov. 2023.
Singh, Jyotsna G. Shakespeare and Postcolonial Theory, The Arden Shakespeare, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2020.
Additional resources on Palestine:
Non-fiction Books:
The Question of Palestine by Edward Said
The Hundreds’ Year War On Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017 by Rashid Khalidi
The General’s Son: the Journey of an Israeli in Palestine by Miko Peled
Palestine, Israel and the U.S. Empire by Richard Becker
The Revolution of 1936-1939 in Palestine: Background, Details, Analysis by Ghassan Kanafani
Documentaries:
The Empire Files Presents: Gaza Fights for Freedom
The Empire Files Presents: The Untold History of Palestine & Israel
Al-Jazeera’s Ten Films to Watch About the History of the Israel-Palestine Conflict
Journalists:
Motaz Azaiza @motaz_azaiza
Plestia Alaqad @byplestia
Rania Khalek @raniakhalek
Wizard Bisan @wizard_bisan1
Photographers:
Hamdan Dahdouh @hamdaneldahdouh
Hamza Wael @hamza_w_dahdooh
Mohamed Al Masri @mohamed.h.masri
Ali Jadallah @alijadallah66
Video Creator:
Ahmed Hijazi @ahmedhijazee
Documenting Palestine @documentingpalestine
Podcasts:
The Palestinian Pod
Citations Needed Podcast Episode 28: The Asymptotic ‘Two State Solution’ (Part 1) and Episode 29: The Asymptotic ‘Two State Solution’ (Part 2)
Writer:
Jenan Matari @jenanmatari
Organizations:
Breaking the Silence: Israel @breakingthesilenceisrael
Aid:
Anera: helps refugees and vulnerable communities in Palestine, Lebanon, and Jordan @aneraorg
