Episode 14: Worshiping at the Altar of the Bard - a podcast by The Theory Doctors

This is Episode 14 of the State of the Theory Podcast.
Politics. Power. Popular Culture. And other stuff, probably.
In this series, we’re like super nerdy philosophical DJs: mashing up Serious Academic Questions with the most topical news and trends in pop culture. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic and collide it with ‘critical theory’ (we’re pretty loose with our definitions, though, so expect the unexpected). Our aim is to destroy the stuff we know, explore the stuff we don’t and unsettle everything we think we know about the world. We take the obvious, the commonsensical, the certain, and then we rip it all to shreds. We are your theory doctors and we are always on call.
In this episode, we look at the politics of commemoration of Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary. We look at the ways in which Shakespeare has been used to represent British nationhood, and a universal humanism at the same time. We explore the political implications of this, in terms of class, nationhood and Empire.

The text we refer to is:
“Worlds Elsewhere: Journeys Around Shakespeare's Globe” by Andrew Dickson (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Worlds-Elsewhere-Journeys-Around-Shakespeares/dp/0099578956)

You can watch the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4As0e4de-rI

Our theme music is "The Face of God" by The Agrarians (freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Agra…he_Face_of_God)
State of the Theory is brought to you by Hannah Fitzpatrick (@drhfitz) and Anindya Raychaudhuri (@DrAnindyaR)
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