Interpreting Othello in the Arabian Gulf: Shakespeare in a Time of Blackface Controversies

Hennessey, Katherine

dc.contributor.author	Hennessey, Katherine
dc.date.accessioned	2021-08-10T06:56:08Z
dc.date.available	2021-08-10T06:56:08Z
dc.date.issued	2020-12-30
dc.identifier.issn	2083-8530
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/11089/38615
dc.description.abstract	This article opens with some brief observations on the phenomenon of Arab blackface—that is, of Arab actors “blacking up” to impersonate black Arab or African characters—from classic cinematic portrayals of the warrior-poet Antara Ibn Shaddad to more recent deployments of blackface in the Arab entertainment industry. It then explores the complex nexus of race, gender, citizenship and social status in the Arabian Gulf as context for a critical reflection on the author’s experience of reading and discussing Othello with students at the American University of Kuwait—discussions which took place in the fall of 2019, in the midst of a wave of controversies sparked by instances of Arab blackface on television and in social media.	en
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher	Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego	pl
dc.relation.ispartofseries	Multicultural Shakespeare: Translation, Appropriation and Performance;37	en
dc.rights.uri	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
dc.subject	Shakespeare	en
dc.subject	Othello	en
dc.subject	Antara Ibn Shaddad	en
dc.subject	blackface	en
dc.subject	Arab blackface	en
dc.subject	Kuwait	en
dc.subject	Egypt	en
dc.subject	Arab/ic film and theatre	en
dc.subject	Arabian Gulf	en
dc.title	Interpreting Othello in the Arabian Gulf: Shakespeare in a Time of Blackface Controversies	en
dc.type	Article
dc.page.number	103-123
dc.contributor.authorAffiliation	Assistant Professor of English, American University of Kuwait, and (in 2020) Research Fellow, National Endowment for the Humanities	en
dc.identifier.eissn	2300-7605
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dc.contributor.authorEmail	hennessey818@gmail.com
dc.identifier.doi	10.18778/2083-8530.22.07
dc.relation.volume	22

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