Justin Shaw
Assistant Professor, English
Scholarly Interests
Shakespeare, Early Modern Literature, Race, Disability, Emotions
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Justin P. Shaw is an Assistant Professor of English at Clark University where he teaches and researches Shakespeare and early modern English literature. His work explores the intersections of race, emotions, and disability in 16th and 17th Century texts. He is completing a book project, “Melancholy Marks: Emotion and Race-Making in Early Modern English Literature”, that examines how racial identity is articulated through melancholic discourse in early modern drama, poetry, and prose. Committed to both public and traditional scholarship, his work appears in the journal Early Theatre, White People in Shakespeare (Bloomsbury, 2022), and the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Race, Travel, and Identity in Early Modern England, 1550-1700. He is also co-editor of the forthcoming volume Inclusive Shakespeare: Identity, Pedagogy, Performance (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023 exp). He regularly teaches courses on otherness and belonging in Shakespeare and early British literature including: "Shakespeare and Race", "Working my Nerves: Emotions in the Renaissance", and "Milk & Honey: Early Modern Utopias" as well as British Literature I and Introduction to Shakespeare.
Degrees
- Ph.D. in English Literature, Emory University, 2020
- M.A. in English and American Literature, University of Houston, 2014
- B.A. in English Literature, Morehouse College, 2011
Affiliated Department(s)
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Scholarly and Creative Works
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"Marking Melancholy, or the Intimacy of Race and Disability in Shakespeare's As You Like It"
Modern Language Association (MLA)
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Philadelphia, PA
January
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2024
Sponsored by MLA
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The Oxford Handbook of Travel, Identity, and Race, 1550-1700
Chapter: "Race, Character, and Melancholy"Published by Oxford University Press
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2024
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Book Review for 'Shakespeare and Disability Studies' by Sonya Freeman Loftis
Shakespeare Studies
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2024
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“The Complexion of the Church”: Witnessing Whiteness and Melancholy in Donne’s Sonnets and Sermons
Renaissance Workshop
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Chicago, IL
May
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2023
Sponsored by English Department, University of Chicago
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"Marking Melancholic Racism in Marlowe's Dido, Queen of Carthage"
University of Chicago Renaissance Workshop
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Chicago, IL
May
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2023
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"Lost Causes: Whiteness and Scientific Racism in Dryden's Shakespeare"
Princeton University English Renaissance Colloquium
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Princeton, NJ
March
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2023
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Book Review for "Scripts of Blackness: Early Modern Performance Culture and the Making of Race"
Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies
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2023
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Inclusive Shakespeares: Performance, Pedagogy, Identity
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2023
Palgrave Macmillan
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"Blackness and the Racial Threshold in Early Modern English Literature"
Emory University Black Studies in English Lecture Series
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Atlanta, GA
October
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2022
Sponsored by Emory University Department of English
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Shakespeare and Inclusive Pedagogy
Shakespeare Association of America
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May
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2022
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“In Little Show”: Anatomizing Melancholy and the Quintessence in Shakespeare
Harvard English Graduate Colloquium
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Cambridge, MA
March
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2022
Sponsored by Harvard University English Department
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Published by Bloomsbury
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2022
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“This Fair Conjunction”: Whiteness and Disability in Richard III
British Graduate Shakespeare Conference
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Stratford-upon-Avon, UK
August
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2021
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Killing Race, Curing Melancholy: White Obsessions in Early Modern Mediterranean Drama
Normand Berlin Annual Lecture
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Amherst, MA
November
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2021
Sponsored by Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies, UMass Amherst
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Disabling Fairness, Justice, and Whiteness in 'Richard III'
Early Modern Studies Institute Renaissance Literature Seminar
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California /virtual
May
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2021
Sponsored by University of Southern California / Huntington Library
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Lament, Race, and Humour in Early Modern Drama
Shakespeare Association of America conference
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Austin / virtual
April
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2021
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Who Can Know Shakespeare?: Towards a More Accessible Academy
Shakespeare Association of America conference
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Austin / virtual
April
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2021
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Speak of Me: Race, Disability, and the Limits of Care in Shakespeare
New Research and Performance Directions in Premodern Disability Studies
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Atlanta / virtual
March
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2021
Sponsored by Folger Shakespeare Library / Emory University
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'Confused Aggregate': Discipling Race and Science in Dryden's Shakespeare
Mahindra Humanities Center Shakespeare Seminar
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Cambridge / virtual
February
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2021
Sponsored by Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard University
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Whiteness and Disability Justice in Shakespeare
Modern Language Association
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virtual (Toronto)
January
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2021
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'Race, Friendship, and the Ethics of Care in Shakespeare's 'Othello'
Neurodiversity and the Creative Arts
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London / virtual
November
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2020
Sponsored by Birkbeck University of London, UK
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Race and Disability in 'Othello'
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virtual
August
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2020
Sponsored by American Shakespeare Center, VA
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You Have Work to Do: Vignettes of Black Grief
To Protect and to Serve: A Race B4 Race Roundtable
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virtual
July
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2020
Sponsored by Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Arizona State University
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Un-burying Imoinda in Aphra Behn's 'Oroonoko'
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virtual
October
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2020
Sponsored by Early Modernists Unite! at Clark University
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Race and Disability in Early Modern Literature
Intersectionality Talks
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Plymouth State University, NH / virtual
October
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2020
Sponsored by Plymouth State University, NH
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From Anti-Blackness to Abolition: The Possibilities of Milton’s Samson Agonistes
South Atlantic MLA Conference
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Virtual
November
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2020
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Disability Studies and Race in Shakespeare's Richard III and Teenage Dick Adaptation
Woolly Mammoth Theater
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Washington, DC (virtual)
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Melancholy Marks: Emotion and Race-Making in Early Modern English Literature
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Awards & Grants
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North Star Collective Fellowship
New England Board of Higher Education
Dec. 1, 2021 - May. 13, 2022
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CU Advance Fellowship
Dean of the Faculty's Office
Oct. 19, 2021 - May. 11, 2022
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Best Issue in Review Essay for Early Theatre, vols 22 and 23.
Early Theatre Journal
2021
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