“‘Not a Moor Exactly’: Shakespeare, Serial, and Modern Constructions of Race.”

Corredera, Vanessa. “‘Not a Moor Exactly’: Shakespeare, Serial, and Modern Constructions of Race.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 67, no. 1, Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 30–50, http://doi.org/10.1353/shq.2016.0009. Accessed 21 July 2021.

Corredera argues that when teaching Shakespeare’s plays, specifically Othello, educators should use the term race when discussing early modern conceptions of Otherness. Although scientific understanding of race did not emerge until the 17th century, Elizabethans established Otherness through markers such as religion, skin color, locale, and exoticism. Corredera cites the work of other early modern scholars who agree that constructions of race today are no more stable than they were during the Renaissance, and not necessarily grounded in biology: factors such as language, culture, religion, appearance, and ethnicity still influence contemporary ideas of race (Corredera 30-32). To illustrate, Corredera points to the podcast Serial: This American Crime, which followed the trial of Pakistani American teenager Adnan Syed, convicted of murdering his Korean girlfriend. Journalist and host Sarah Koenig confused religion with race when she said authorities were not motivated by “anti-Muslim feeling, by racism” (Corredera 38). Jury members struggled to define Syed’s Otherness, mistakenly referring to his “Arabic” culture (Pakistanis are not Arabs), and associating him with stereotypes of “how they treat their women” “over there” – even though defendant and jurors all lived in Baltimore, sharing the same culture (Corredera 39-40). Even for informed and educated people, facets of identity outside of biology such as religion and ethnicity still inform conceptions of the Other, making it vital to recognize race in Shakespeare’s works (Corredera 41-45).

--Jess Fraser

Decolonizing Othello in Search of Black Feminist North American Identities

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 

"Stitching and Unstitching: Fabrications of Othello"

Brendon, Devika. "Stitching and Unstitching: Fabrications of Othello." The Hopkins Review, vol. 14, no. 1, 2021, pp. 74-86. doi.org/10.1353/thr.2021.0017.

In Brendon's article, "Stitching and Unstitching: Fabrications of Othello," she offers an examination "in the contexts of Postcolonial and Feminist criticism..." (74) of race in Othello, by drawing modern-day parallels and differences with a modern reenactment of the movie, Internal Affairs. Brendon argues that both "Othello's" are "strong-willed and strong-minded" (Ibid) men lending to their aggressive responses to the"Desdemona's" perceived conduct. In the movie, Andy Garcia's "Othello" violently slaps Desdemona (Nancy Travis) whereas Othello killed Desdemona in Shakespeare's Othello.

But unlike the seventeenth century Desdemona, our modern version lives in a world where women have a more equal footing and can rationally communicate to Othello. Travis's character is more equipped to deal with the conflict than the original Desdemona. The modern Desdemona is "able to break down the manufactured distrust with communication: because she has standing in the relationship; because they are partners; because there is respect, and honesty, at the base of the connection" (75).

Brendon argues that part of the dysfunction between Desdemona and Othello in Shakespeare's original origin arises from their racial differences; Othello subconsciously/unconsciously is motivated to act and react because of his race. The continual subtext of him constantly having to prove himself makes him this hyper-sensitive and reactive character. As Brendon asserts " Being an honored dinner guest of a Senator and being his son-in-law and the father of his grandchildren are two different matters" (82).

-David Kase