‘L-ʿalwa’, a sung poem whose text recounts the pilgrimage to a saint’s shrine in Morocco, is celebrated for its ability to convey images and emotions stirred up by the sacred journey. As part of the repertory of ʿaita—a genre of sung poetry from the Moroccan plains and plateaus traditionally performed by professional female singer-danc…[Read more]

ʿAiṭa–a genre of sung poetry from the Moroccan Atlantic Plains and its adjacent territories—is regarded as the quintessential expression of the identity of the region. If it is possible to analyse the poetic language of ʿaiṭa in order to understand its significance among these populations, it is also critical to examine how the affective power of…[Read more]

Panorama of scholarly work on women and music in Morocco

The article explores why a particular group of Moroccan musicians conceives of different performances of a sung poem titled “Kharbusha” as unchanging despite variables arising from the dynamics of performance practices. To this end, I explore the seeming discrepancy between discourses about “Kharbusha” and its performance, and what this discrep…[Read more]

The article examines Moroccan professional female singer-dancers (shikhat) in relation to other professional female performers . An analysis of the role that women have as entertainers, and in particular of their behavior in the course of performance, will show how they affect the status of each class of performers. Sketching a panorama of the…[Read more]

‘Aita is a sung poetry practiced by professional female singer-dancers known as shikhat along the Moroccan Atlantic plains and plateaus. By focusing on the discourses and politics employed in the revalorization of the ‘aita, this ethnographic investigation will show how the official incorporation of the ‘aita into the Moroccan heritage has…[Read more]

The article examines Moroccan professional female singer-dancers (shikhat) in relation to other professional female performers . An analysis of the role that women have as entertainers, and in particular of their behavior in the course of performance, will show how they affect the status of each class of performers. Sketching a panorama of the…[Read more]

The essay analyzes a contemporary Indian feminist performance, Thoda Dhyaan Se (A Little Carefully, 2013), by framing it in the spatial ecosystem of the city of Delhi and explores its engagement with the feminist movement and the national imaginary of India. It examines the workings of the cultural economy of the city to discuss the effect of its…[Read more]

This post, written following the announcement of Plan S, reflects on the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA) and the call for responsible use of research metrics and recognition of open research practices in assessment.

In my final International Open Access Week 2018 blog post I reflected on other open research practices, namely open data and open researcher contributorID (ORCiD).

As part of International Open Access Week I reflected on the link between Open Access, Altmetrics and citation counts.

As part of International Open Access Week 2018 I blogged about how Altmetrics can help an author understand the readership and audience for their Open Access research. It can be surprising what breadth a single piece of work can have.

The Afterword to this EMLS Special Issue “European Women in Early Modern English Drama” contextualizes this collection in light of our continued scholarly and social investigation into the invention of “whiteness” and of a pan-European identity. It argues that texturing the flat surface of “whiteness” and “Europeanness” can enable us to “…[Read more]

This essay argues that Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric (2014) deploys feminist intermediality to appropriate Othello in the service of a highly nuanced womanist aesthetics. The essay defines and offers examples of some important theoretical approaches, including: appropriation studies; intersectional feminism; intermediality; w…[Read more]

This essay argues that Claudia Rankine’s Citizen: An American Lyric (2014) deploys feminist intermediality to appropriate Othello in the service of a highly nuanced womanist aesthetics. The essay defines and offers examples of some important theoretical approaches, including: appropriation studies; intersectional feminism; intermediality; w…[Read more]

In 2016 Paapa Essiedu, a British actor of Ghanaian ancestry, starred as Hamlet in Simon
Godwin’s lauded Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production, set in a post-colonial
African state whose non-specificity nonetheless irritated some reviewers. We contend,
however, that the production mixed multiple referents of blackness (Eastern A…[Read more]

In 2016 Paapa Essiedu, a British actor of Ghanaian ancestry, starred as Hamlet in Simon
Godwin’s lauded Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) production, set in a post-colonial
African state whose non-specificity nonetheless irritated some reviewers. We contend,
however, that the production mixed multiple referents of blackness (Eastern A…[Read more]

Because of a series of miscommunications, I originally wrote a 6000-word essay for the Cambridge Guide to the Worlds of Shakespeare on Ophelia and Popular Culture rather than the 1500 words that it turned out they wanted. Bruce R. Smith graciously let me go up to 3000 words, and I republished some of my research in other articles, but some of this…[Read more]

Non-copy-edited MS Word doc of the intro to my edited collection _Disability, Health, and Happiness in the Shakespearean Body (Routledge, 2015), uploaded in accordance with publisher’s Green OA policies.

Non-copy-edited MS Word doc of the intro to my edited collection _Disability, Health, and Happiness in the Shakespearean Body (Routledge, 2015), uploaded in accordance with publisher’s Green OA policies.