The “new social history” has exploded the myth that Shakespeare’s society comprised a culture of obedience. Repositioning his works in the popular politics of his period, social historians and literary critics reassess Shakespeare’s presentation of power and authority.
Richard Wilson discusses “‘The lean, unwashed articer’: Shakespeare’s Missing Magna Carta”. Wilson is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at Kingston University. This talk was included in the session titled, “Citizen Skepticism and Political Agency”.
Thomas Cartelli discusses “The Speaking Silence of Citizens in Shakespeare’s Richard III”. Cartelli is Professor of English and Film Studies at Muhlenberg College. This talk was included in the session titled, “Citizen Skepticism and Political Agency”.
Chris Fitter discusses “‘As full of grief as age’: Geriatric Poverty, the Poor Law, and King Lear”. Fitter is Professor of English at Rutgers University, Camden. This talk was included in the session titled, “Shakespeare and Tudor Institutional Change”.
Paola Pugliatti discusses “Shakespeare and the ‘Military Revolution’: The Social and Cultural Weapons of Reformed War”. Pugliatti is Professor of English at the University of Florence, Italy. This talk was included in the session titled, “Shakespeare and Tudor Institutional Change”.
Frances E. Dolan discusses “‘Know Your Food’: Titus Andronicus and the Local”. Dolan is Distinguished Professor of English at the University of California, Davis. This talk was included in the session titled, “Women, Labor, and Food Production”.
Andy Wood discusses “‘Brave minds and hard hands’: Drama and Social Relations in the Hungry 1590’s”. Wood is Professor of Social History at Durham University. This talk was included in the session titled, “Class Rebellion in Henry VI Part Two”.
Stephen Longstaffe discusses “The Plebeians Revise the Uprising: What the Actors Made of Shakespeare’s Jack Cade”. Longstaffe is Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Cumbria, UK. This talk was included in the session titled, “Class Rebellion in Henry VI Part Two”.
David Rollison discusses “Shakespeare’s Overview: Did He Have Any Theory of English Historical Development?”. Rollison is the Honorary Research Associate of History at the University of Sydney. This talk was included in the session titled, “Conceptualizing Commoners and Social Struggle”.
Peter Lake discusses “Popularity and its Discontents: Staging Politics on the Shakespearean Stage”. Lake is Distinguished Professor of History at Vanderbilt University. This talk was included in the session titled, “Popularity and Popular Politics in Early Modern England”.
Markku Peltonnen discusses “Popularity and the Arts of Rhetoric: Julius Caesar in Context”. Peltonnen is History Faculty at the University of Helsinki. This talk was included in the session titled, “Popularity and Popular Politics in Early Modern England”.
Steve Hindle welcomes participants and attendees to the “Rethinking Shakespeare in the Social Depths of Politics” conference, held at the Huntington Library on April 17-18, 2015. Hindle is the W. M. Keck Foundation Director of Research at The Huntington.
Chris Fitter begins the event with opening remarks at the “Rethinking Shakespeare in the Social Depths of Politics” conference, held at the Huntington Library on April 17-18, 2015. Fitter is Professor of English at Rutgers University, Camden.