Teaching Shakespeare in Tempestuous Times

This book addresses the profound crisis facing professors of Shakespeare in non-elite and regional public universities in the US, providing a set of bold solutions to these problems.The study of Shakespeare, once considered untouchable, now struggles in an era where higher education is too expensive and too politicized. An enrolment drop is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to decades of neoliberal institutional management and public financial disinvestment, resulting in widespread structural cuts, department consolidation and the elimination of specialized curricula. How do professors cope aboard what feels like a sinking ship?Rather than stick to what is familiar, this book offers 9 essays characterized by ‘Titanic optimism’, emphasizing both pragmatic survival and pedagogical reinvention. From case studies of thriving new applied humanities programs to guerrilla tactics of embedding Shakespeare within generalist courses, these strategies offer performance-based, joy-centred learning to cultivate essential 21st-century skills, providing activities that counter the use of AI. They explore more creative forms of scholarship that embrace uncertainty and pedagogical approaches that resist programmatic models in order to build communities and underscore the arts’ cultural value for diverse student populations. Relevant not only to Shakespeareans but the humanities more broadly, this book is a vital guide for any faculty seeking to adapt their praxis, resist the market takeover of education and ensure the enduring importance of critical humanistic inquiry.