SAA Transing Gender and Race-making Practices in Shakespearean Performance, Futures Plenary, 2024

During her Shakespeare Association of America "Shakespeare Futures" plenary, Alexa Alice Joubin spoke on bringing critical race theory and trans studies methods to bear on each other. Her plenary lecture was entitled "Transing Gender and Race-making Practices in Shakespearean Performance" and was delivered in Portland, Oregon, on April 11, 2024.
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00:09 Young introduces event
01:37 Young introduces Joubin
02:33 Gender / Race as intertwined social practices
03:04 Cisgender sexism
03:17 Six themes
03:40 How gendering and race-making draw on each other
04:11 Belinda Sullivan's "doubled drag" in Merry Wives of Windsor
04:37 Tacit trans-ness
04:58 Twelfth Night, Takarazuka style
06:00 Trans as a verb
06:58 Listening as a racializing organ
07:28 Othello / Desdemona in Stage Beauty
08:43 Ophelia in Barakah Meets Barakah
09:49 Explicit trans-ness
10:08 "Post-gender" Hamlet, London Globe, 2018
10:56 I, Joan, London Globe
12:37 Self-representation of racial / gender trauma
13:08 Anti-racist trans theory
13:21 Snorton's Black on Both Sides
13:43 Chen's Trans Exploits
14:58 Ethics of Care
15:37 Explanatory Comma
16:00 Scale Jumping
16:16 Adaptation as Estrangement
17:30 Race-making as technology of representation
17:54 Radical hospitality
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The Futures plenary raised questions that look ahead to future work for Shakespeare and early modern studies scholars. Alexa Alice Joubin developed new vocabulary and anti-racist trans-inclusive frameworks to analyze Shakespearean performance. This is particularly crucial at a time when the political stakes are high. Together, the panelists proposed new models of scholarly inquiry, considered possible pitfalls, and shared strategies to dislodge barriers to inclusive scholarship that accounts for Shakespeare's resonances around the world.
The plenary was co-organized by Sandra Young (University of Cape Town) and Christina Wald (University of Konstanz) and chaired by Young. Panelists include Alexa Alice Joubin, Douglas M. Lanier, Young, and Wald.