Race, Gender, and Class in Renaissance Drama
 
1
1
Lit 179N: Race, Gender, and Class in Renaissance Drama
Prof. Ambereen Dadabhoy email: dadabhoy@g.hmc.edu  phone: 77346 office: Parson 1284 office hours: M/W 10-11, 3-4, or by appointment
Course Description:
How does art reflect life? How is art implicated in the negative aspects of life, such as racism, sexism, and economic disparity? Can we trace the historical roots of our ideas about race, gender, and class? In this course we will attempt to answer these questions through the examination of literature during a period where questions about race, gender, and class were fluid and unfixed. Early modern English drama can provide us with a lens into the past that lets us see how literature not only reflects the fears desires, and anxieties of the past, but also how it might have helped shape the future. This course will examine English Renaissance plays within the historical, cultural, and political context that shaped them. At the same time we will read contemporary theories of race, religion, and class that will help us see how the past has shaped our current circumstances. Some of the questions we will ask in this course include, what can we learn about the early modern period through these plays? Do the plays interrogate the dominant  power structure or reinforce the status quo? How does looking at the past through the lens of the  present not only open up new ways of understanding history and literature but also new ways of understanding ourselves?
Course Objectives
: In this course you will:
!
 
gain familiarity with a broad range of early modern English drama.
!
 
 be exposed to a variety of theoretical approaches to literary study.
!
 
analyze the literature through the above mentioned methodologies.
!
 
critically interpret texts through oral presentations and written assignments.
Course Texts
: All of these texts are available at Huntley Bookstore. You may buy them independently; however, please purchase the edition that I have assigned, since we will need to all be on the same page (only literally) during class discussion.
Thomas Middleton Four Plays
, ISBN: 9781408156582
The Island Princess
, John Fletcher, ISBN: 9781904271536
Othello,
William Shakespeare, ISBN:9780312398989
 
Race, Gender, and Class in Renaissance Drama
 
2
2
Titus Andronicus
, William Shakespeare, 9780199536108
 John Webster and John Ford 
, ISBN: 9780141392233
The Jew of Malta
, Christopher Marlowe, ISBN: 9781408144893 The following texts are available on Sakai:  bell hooks, “feminism: a transformational politic”  bell hooks, “the oppositional gaze” Frantz Fanon,
 Black Skin / White Masks
Linda Thuiwai Smith, “Imperialism, History, Writing and Theory” John Berger,
Ways of Seeing 
 Judith Butler,
Gender Trouble
Kimberlé Crenshaw “Mapping the Margins” Rebecca Solnit “Men Explain Things to Me” Raymond Williams, “Class” Selected essays on Representation and Culture The following can be found on YouTube
Ways of Seeing 
 BBC program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1GI8mNU5Sg You will be listening to two podcasts, which can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/folgershakespearelibrary/shakespeare-anniversary-lecture-series-kim-hall https://soundcloud.com/folgershakespearelibrary/american-moor  
Attendance:
 This is a small discussion seminar and its success is dependent upon your attendance and participation. All absences must be accompanied by a valid excuse either from DOS or via communication with me.
Several unexcused absences will result in a lower final grade.
 
Participation:
 This seminar will be successful only through student participation. One of the goals of this class is to generate discussion which will help not only to increase your comprehension and appreciation of this literature but also to develop your critical perspective. We can only do so through a rich and thorough conversation that involves everyone.
Reading:
 You are required to complete the assigned reading
before
 our meeting time. You should also bring your text to all of our class meetings, as we will frequently be referring to the text.
 Not reading or bringing your text to class will count as an absence.
 In addition I reserve the right to give pop quizzes, so you must come to class prepared. Your quiz grade will be calculated into your overall participation grade. In this course you will be reading material that will be challenging. In order to effectively read and process these texts, you are
required to annotate
 them. Annotating a text means that you are reading with a purpose. To use annotation effectively, you need to consider the following: what is the central claim or argument being made by the text; what kind of evidence is offered in support of the claim; who is the audience; are emotional or logical appeals being made; how is the argument structured; does that structure effectively communicate and support the claim; are
 
Race, Gender, and Class in Renaissance Drama
 
3
3 there moments when the claim is either reversed or undermined; finally, have you understood the argument. While reading you will also want to pay special attention to how language is used and to make note of any sections that are unclear to you. Always remember to circle and look up any unfamiliar vocabulary.
Assignments:
 Writing assignments are due on the due date. The assignments for this course are as follows:
2 close reading papers (3pp)
: The aim of this paper is to close read a portion of one of our  primary texts. Close reading is a tool that literary scholars use to analyze and interpret a text. The way a passage is composed, the choice of words used by an author, certain images and figurative language, are all codes that help us decipher a text and arrive at meaning. You will receive a handout explaining how to close read more fully, and we will do a close reading in class, so that you gain familiarity with this necessary skill.
10 minute presentation:
You will be responsible for leading discussion one time during the semester. You will format your discussion using one of the following “sign-posts”: textual analysis (choose a passage and analyze it for / with the class), out on a limb interpretation (grounding your interpretation in the text, see how far you can push your analytical skills, or overall interpretation (offer some conclusions you’ve come to about the text or your topic). You will end your presentation by considering some questions that you have about the text that you haven’t yet been able to answer. The presentation will be 10 minutes long, so please use your time wisely. You should also post your questions in the Forum of our Sakai site, so that students can access them before your presentation.
Blog posts:
 You will be required to write a blog post every other week on either a literary or theoretical work that we will have read. Blogs require a different kind of writing: informal  perhaps, but content rich. Blogs are also the place for you to be able to articulate interpretations of reactions and don’t require the use of outside evidence. This is the space for you to work out your opinions and reactions to our readings. They are also public to your peers in the course, so write with that audience in mind. Successful blog posts are at least 300 words in length.
Historical project:
For this assignment, you will explore an issue that arises in one of the plays, cross-dressing in
The Roaring Girl 
, for example, and look for primary documents from the 16
th
 and 17
th
 centuries, either on EEBO or in Special Collections at Honnold Mudd Library. Looking at these documents in tandem with the play, write a short (4-5pp) essay in which you introduce your source, explain its arguments, and show how those are challenged or reinforced in the play. This assignment will expose you to some of the characteristics of early modern printed materials as well as show how literary cultural production might be rooted in the moment of its creation. More specific instruction and format will follow.
Final research paper (7pp):
This is a collaborative group writing assignment. Choosing one of the dramatic texts, groups will write their own introduction to the text using the theoretical readings as interpretive lenses. More information about this assignment will be circulated closer to the due date.
Grading:
Your course grade will be determined as follows:
View on Scribd