English 336 - Shakespearean Publics and Platforms

[Before 1800] What institutions do communities build for the arts? And how do the social platforms those institutions run on reshape their communities into publics? This course explores how the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries moved through early modern media infrastructures—playhouses, print networks, and libraries—and puts those systems in conversation with today’s platforms. We will ask how readers and audiences coalesced into publics in early modern England, and how publics are configured in the digital present. Our contemporary case study will be the Folger Shakespeare Library—Amherst’s sibling institution in Washington, D.C.—with virtual consultations with Folger staff and collections culminating in a field trip. Taught in tandem with concurrent classes at Amherst, the George Washington University, and the University of Delaware, the course connects students across institutions and with faculty, designers, artists, scholars, and arts administrators. In addition to conducting original research in literature, theatre, and history, students will travel to Washington, D.C., to tour the Folger, meet peers from other schools, attend a performance, and gain a behind-the-scenes perspective on this leading cultural institution.