Cucarella-Ramon, Vicent. “Decolonizing Othello in Search of Black Feminist
North American Identities: Djanet Sears’ Harlem Duet and Toni Morrison’s
Desdemona.” International Journal of English Studies (IJES), vol. 17, no. 1,
2017, pp. 83–97
In “Decolonizing Othello in Search of Black Feminist North American Identities: Djanet Sears' Harlem Duet and Toni Morrison's Desdemona,” Cucarella-Ramon compares Harlem Duet by African Canadian playwright Djanet Sears and Desdemona by Toni Morrison to Shakespeare's Othello and uses them to to carve out a new definition of what it means to be black in North America and Canada. Cucarella-Ramon claims that these texts can be used when looking at the study of (black) identity construction within US and in relation - Canada. Through rethinking and rewriting Othello in the modern era, they create a social and racial reality “unrelentingly disrupted by difference and hybridity,” (Cucarella-Ramon 83). Or in other words, Cucarella-Ramon puts Harlem Duet and Desdemona in conversation with Othello to offer a modern look at race in Othello, and more importantly offer a way for African Americans and African Canadians a way to read Othello and be able to place themselves in the story. They also bring the role of women to the forefront to render a feminist and democratic definition of the black female self. Cucarella-Ramon thinks that these readings can offer a look into the black identity in North America.
Priscilla Adams
