Geraldo Sousa


Geraldo Sousa
  • Professor

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Biography

My research focuses on the cross-cultural interconnectedness of literature and culture and explores the intersection of various disciplines, including Renaissance literature, theater and stage history, Renaissance history, anthropology, history of architecture, and art history. Shakespeare's Cross-Cultural Encounters addresses an ethnographic perspective in Shakespeare's dramatic representation of ethnic, racial, religious, and gender issues arising from the encounter of a dominant European society and members of foreign cultures. My most recent book, At Home in Shakespeare's Tragedies, taking a markedly interdisciplinary approach, focuses on representations of home and domestic space in Shakespeare and in early modern Europe and Africa. My recent projects reflect my interest in the discourse of globalization, especially the emerging networks and evolving processes of cross-cultural and commercial exchange in the Renaissance. I am currently working on a book on London.

The cross-cultural theme also appears in my various essays, especially in Luso-Brazilian studies. "Alien Habitats in The Tempest," for example, addresses ecological issues in England (deforestation) and logging in South America in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. "The Merchant of Venice: Brazil and Cultural Icons" deals with the staging of Shakespeare in Brazil and contemporary Brazilian race relations. "Portugal, North Africa, and Dryden's Don Sebastian" explores the 1578 conflict between Portugal and Morocco. Most recently, "Travel, Imagination, and the Strangest of Theaters" studies representations of Burma and Hindu rituals in 16th-century Portuguese texts. My work as editor of the journalMediterranean Studies requires proficiency in multiple languages, disciplines, scholarly methodology, and approaches.

The nineteenth century is my hobby.  I love the American Renaissance, as well as 19th-century history and culture (United States, Europe, Africa, Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia, and Brazil).  I am an avid reader of Victorian novels, and a fan of Sheridan Le Fanu.

Research

Shakespeare, Renaissance Drama, Early Modern English Studies, Mediterranean Studies, Travel Literature, Global and Cross-Cultural Studies, and Luso-Brazilian Studies.

Selected Publications

At Home in Shakespeare's Tragedies (Ashgate, 2010)

Shakespeare's Cross-Cultural Encounters (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2002)

Editor, Mediterranean Studies(Journal), vol. IX-XIX (Manchester UP)

Co-author, Shakespeare: A Study and Research Guide (U P of Kansas, 1995).

“Travel, Imagination, and the Strangest of Theaters: Mendes Pinto’s Travels and Gil Vicente’s Barca do Inferno.”Revista Científica/FAP 4. 1 (2009): 11-25.

“Portugal, North Africa, and Dryden’s Don Sebastian.”  Clio: A Journal of Literature, History,and the Philosophy of History  37.3 (2008): 339-63.

"Unhoused in Othello."  In Approaches to Teaching Shakespeare’s “Othello.” Ed. Peter Erickson and Maurice Hunt. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2005.  Pp. 133-40.

"Alien Habitats in The Tempest."  "The Tempest": Critical Essays.  Ed. Patrick M. Murphy.  New York: Routledge, 2001, 438-61.

"Timon of Athens and the Spectacle of Stripping." Dramaturgia & Teatro 1 (2000): 81-90.

"The Peasants' Revolt and the Writing of History in 2 Henry VI."  In Reading and Writing in Shakespeare. Ed. David M. Bergeron.  Newark: University of Delaware Press; London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1996. 178-193.

"The Merchant of Venice: Brazil and Cultural Icons."  Shakespeare Quarterly 45 (1994): 469-74.

"Theatrics and Politics of Culture in Sixteenth-Century Brazil." Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism 8 (1994): 89-102

Awards & Honors

Fellow, Mediterranean Studies Association, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany, in Recognition for Outstanding Service to the Mediterranean Studies Association, May 28, 2008.

Mabel S. Fry Award for Teaching Excellence, Department of English (2007-2008)

The Byron Alexander Graduate Mentor Award in Recognition of Outstanding Service to Graduate Students, 2008.

Fulbright, 1977-82.