Black Lives Matter in "Titus Andronicus"

<p>In his classes at Binghamton University, David Sterling Brown and his students examine Shakespeare’s plays through the lens of Critical Race Theory. You might have heard about Critical Race Theory lately: put simply, it’s a way of looking at society and culture that focuses on the intersections of race, law, and power. Ever since George Floyd’s killing by a white police officer in Minneapolis outraged much of the nation, Critical Race Theory has taken on a new urgency for millions of Americans examining race, law and power with new eyes. Meanwhile, millions of other Americans, pointing to the realities of their own day-to-day lives, are basically saying: “I told you so.”</p> <p>What does it mean to read a play like <em>Titus Andronicus </em>with questions of race in mind? Brown, who has written extensively about that play, joins us on the podcast to discuss the ways that such a reading reveals an entire dimension of racial imagery and racial violence. We also talk about what it means for theaters and cultural institutions to engage in anti-racist work. David Sterling Brown is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev.</p> <p>Dr. David Sterling Brown is a professor of English, General Literature and Rhetoric at Binghamton University/State University of New York. He is an executive board member of the <em>RaceB4Race</em> conference series.</p> <p>He is the author of “<em>‘Is Black so Base a Hue?’: Black Life Matters in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus</em>,” a chapter in the anthology <em>Early Modern Black Diaspora Studies </em>(Palgrave Macmillan, 2018); “Remixing the Family,” which appeared in <em>Titus Andronicus: The State of Play</em> (The Arden Shakespeare, 2019); and “The ‘Sonic Color Line’: Shakespeare and the Canonization of Sexual Violence Against Black Men,” published in the August 16, 2019 edition of <em>The Sundial</em>. He is currently finalizing his book project, <em>Black Domestic Matters in Shakespearean Drama</em>. More of his work has been published or is forthcoming in <em>Shakespeare Studies, Radical Tea