Shakespeare, University Education, and Anti-Racism in Kuwait: ‘A Drop of Water in the Breaking Gulf’

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2023

Abstract

This chapter examines the challenges and possibilities of engaging in university-level classroom discussions of systemic discrimination, racial inequity, and xenophobia in Arabian Gulf countries such as Kuwait. Juxtaposing two very different sets of responses to the author’s attempts to encourage student discussion on these topics through the analysis of literary texts in courses at the American University of Kuwait, this chapter argues that texts that originate in the local context are more likely to trigger student defensiveness and denial than texts from outside the region. Moreover, this chapter proposes that the iconic status of Shakespeare within the canon of world literature makes his work distinctively useful in opening up reflective, rather than reflexive, responses to the questions of how and why racism and other intersectional forms of discrimination manifest themselves in Kuwait and across the Arabian Peninsula.

Publication Title

Shakespeare, Education and Pedagogy: Representations, Interactions and Adaptations

First Page Number

172

Last Page Number

180

DOI

10.4324/9781003188704-23

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