SoS #31 | Edward Wilson-Lee: Shakespeare, Books, Water, Africa, and the New World

04/15/22 • 79 min

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Edward Wilson-Lee of Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge. Wilson-Lee is the author of “Shakespeare in Swahililand,” a study of how Shakespearean plays made their way into East Africa. He is also the author of “The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books,” which examines the life of Columbus’s son, Hernando Colón, and Hernando’s dream of a library that held universal knowledge. This work is supplemented with another book on Colón’s catalogue, a collaboration with José María Pérez Fernández entitled “Hernando Colón’s New World of Books: Towards a Cartography of Knowledge.” Wilson-Lee also has another book that will appear in August 2022, entitled “A History of Water, being an account of a murder, an epic, and two vision of global history.”
00:00:00 - Intro

00:03:41 - Formative years, East Africa, books and adventure

00:07:04 - A History of Water

00:16:15 - Shakespeare in Swahililand

00:32:10 - The travels of translation

00:39:50 - Shakespeare for the people, Shakespearean adaptation

00:45:30 - Hernando Colón and preserving knowledge

00:56:20 - The found book and ordering knowledge

01:19:28 - Scholarship in narrative form; the wandering scholar

01:15:50 - Japanese translation and closing remarks

00:03:41 - Formative years, East Africa, books and adventure

00:07:04 - A History of Water

00:16:15 - Shakespeare in Swahililand

00:32:10 - The travels of translation

00:39:50 - Shakespeare for the people, Shakespearean adaptation

00:45:30 - Hernando Colón and preserving knowledge

00:56:20 - The found book and ordering knowledge

01:19:28 - Scholarship in narrative form; the wandering scholar

01:15:50 - Japanese translation and closing remarks

Previous Episode

SoS #30 | Peggy O'Brien: Teaching Shakespeare and the Folger Method

Peggy O’Brien, Director of Education at the Folger Shakespeare Library, about the Folger Method for teaching Shakespeare (see link below). This talk also covers the Folger’s educational offerings online and on-site, including lesson plans and and other offerings for those who teach Shakespeare.
The Folger Method: https://www.folger.edu/the-folger-method
Folger Shakespeare Library (homepage): https://www.folger.edu
00:00:00 - Intro
00:02:40 - The Folger Method and its origins
00:08:15 - NEH, Professional development, The Wide World, Folger Teaching
00:14:15 - Global literary education, bridging the language and dialect gap
00:21:00 - Why so much Shakespeare? The sweep of literature. Race and Gender.
00:27:10 - Recent troubles in American schools. Political polarization
00:37:15 - Humanities under attack. Public demand for the humanities.
00:44-38 - Outreach, Michael Witmore
00:51:34 - Shakespeare, theory, history, and student-centered interpretations
01:58:40 - Shakespearean adaptation in Japan and across the globe
01:03:00 - Peggy’s career in education
01:08:40 - Covid and adapting to change in teaching
01:10:54 - A welcome from the Folger and closing remarks
This series is funded with institutional support from Aoyama Gakuin University (AGU) in Tokyo and with a generous grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Next Episode

SoS #32 | Sarah Olive | YA, Dragons, Hot Shakespeare, Cool Japan

Thomas Dabbs speaks with Sarah Olive of the University of Bangor about global Shakespearean education and about her work on young adult and children’s fiction (where things Shakespearean make many appearances). Sarah is currently on research leave (2022) and is a visiting professor at Kobe Women’s College in Japan.