Kinney Center to Host March 7 Symposium on Shakespeare and Mass Incarceration
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The Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies at UMass Amherst presents Shakespeare & Mass Incarceration, a symposium held in conjunction with a special exhibit of the same name. The symposium will be held on Thursday, March 7, 2024, 4-6 p.m., at the Kinney Center, 650 E. Pleasant Street, Amherst. After the symposium, visitors may tour the exhibit and enjoy a reception. This event is free and open to the public and registration is advised.
The symposium involves diverse voices and perspectives on the impact of encountering Shakespeare in prison. Explicitly it asks: What are the most important considerations today for people teaching and studying Shakespeare inside? What expectations are imposed on the encounters? How can we reexamine histories of incarceration through links between past and present?
Attendees will be invited to read in advance a short essay from incarcerated scholar dave rich that invites us to consider Shakespeare in prison as a form of cultural invasion. Panelists include professionals and scholars who are at the forefront of creatively envisioning new models for prison education: Ved Price (Alliance for Higher Education in Prison), Matthew Ritger (Dartmouth College), Stephen Kim (Cornell University) and Liz Fox (UMass Amherst).
The special exhibit—Shakespeare & Mass Incarceration—is part of the campuswide Shakespeare Unbound exhibit and is now on view through March 8, 2024, at the Kinney Center. It explores early modern rare books and contemporary prison writing side by side to discover the entanglements between Shakespeare and prisons across time. Curated by Kinney Center’s Arts and Academic Programs Coordinator, Liz Fox, the exhibit explores the prevalence of William Shakespeare’s plays in prison libraries, arts programs, and higher education classrooms, placing Shakespeare and his work in conversations with writing from within and about Massachusetts prisons.
To learn more about the exhibit and register for the symposium, visit Shakespeare Unbound.