Day 2 Panels - Unsettled Shakespeares: Adaptation, Mobility, Justice | Senate Room
Jun 11, 2024 (UTC+0)ENDED
Belfast
Day 2 of the international symposium, "Unsettled Shakespeares: Adaptation, Mobility, Justice," will feature panels exploring the theme of unsettlement throughout Shakespeare's works. The symposium, held at the Senate Room in Queen's University Belfast, aims to delve into the limits and possibilities of worldwide adaptations of Shakespeare in our contemporary "age of unsettlement."
The concept of unsettlement is a recurring motif in Shakespeare's plays. Characters like Leontes in The Winter's Tale and Prospero in The Tempest embody this sense of psychological displacement and colonial dispossession. Hamlet's famous line, "The time is out of joint," further emphasizes the theme of unsettlement.
In our present era, being "unsettled" is not only a dramatic device but also a defining characteristic of the contemporary world. Madina Tlostanova, in her study "Narratives of Unsettlement: Being Out-of-Joint as a Generative Human Condition," argues that the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries represent the "age of unsettlement." This period is marked by constant negotiation between belonging and non-belonging, rootedness and displacement, and a fear of change.
The symposium posits that adaptations of Shakespeare's plays worldwide actively engage with this age of unsettlement. These adaptations play a vital role in exploring possibilities for global justice. The panels will discuss how recent adaptations converse with the plays to debate the "unsettled" condition and its various manifestations in conflict zones, indigenous studies, translation, diaspora, gender, sexuality, race, and more.
Organized by Professor Mark Thornton Burnett, Dr Emer McHugh, and Dr Taarini Mookherjee, the symposium will feature esteemed speakers from renowned institutions such as Queen's University Belfast, University of Birmingham, Wenzhou-Kean University, and University of Waikato, among others.
The schedule for the symposium will be finalized in due course. Admission to the event is free, providing an opportunity for attendees to engage with the thought-provoking discussions on "Unsettled Shakespeares."
Image credit: Noriko Eguchi as Miranda in Sado Tempest (dir. John Williams, 2012). Copyright: 100 Meter Films.