ABSTRACT

Shakespeare’s elite cultural status bolsters the sense of achievement and empowerment experienced by participants in prison performance programmes; and yet, such engagements paradoxically risk further marginalising participants by reinforcing a colonial mentality in which Shakespeare represents an offering from a morally superior white culture. Taking the Detroit Public Theatre’s Shakespeare in Prison (SIP) programme for women as my central case study, I apply a decolonising lens in order to identify pedagogies and practices that help SIP to prioritise participant knowledge and agency, prioritise an ethics of care over high production standards, and prioritise relationality over the individualist rhetoric of rehabilitation.

摘要

莎士比亚的精英文化地位增强了监狱表演项目参与者的成就感和赋权感；然而，这种参与自相矛盾的是，通过强化殖民心态，莎士比亚代表了道德优越的白人文化的奉献，从而进一步边缘化了参与者。以底特律公共剧院的女性监狱莎士比亚 (SIP) 计划作为我的中心案例研究，我运用非殖民化镜头来确定有助于 SIP 优先考虑参与者知识和能动性的教学法和实践，优先考虑护理伦理而不是高产量标准，并将关系性置于个人主义的康复修辞之上。