Alys Daroy

This chapter argues for the importance of holistic systems-thinking and collaborative interdisciplinarity when approaching the blue humanities. The co-authors propose an ecosystem approach for considering the emerging field of Australian Blue Shakespeare. Beginning with a discussion of the presence and absence of the blue in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, the chapter moves to a brief examination of Shakespeare’s wider watery worlds through the lens of ecological cognition. This, they suggest, offers a pathway through which to examine the entanglements between mind, body, and environment within Shakespeare’s work. Discussion then turns to place-based potential for Australian blue interpretations, concluding with an interview with postcolonial critic Rahul K. Gairola in relation to Australian blue pedagogy and The Tempest.

How ‘woke’ is eco-Shakespeare? The dynamic field of ecological Shakespeare, or ‘eco-Shakespeare’, traverses environmental justice alongside ethical considerations of more-than-human agency and impact. The term’s origins are situated in Black culture and social justice and use outside of these contexts requires thoughtful consideration to avoid appropriation, virtue signalling and ‘woke-washing’. This chapter examines what and how Shakespearean ecocriticism and ecoperformance might learn from the woke movement’s mobilisation of a critical mass against systemic injustice. Beginning with defining what a ‘woke ecology’ might constitute, discussion turns to an overview of eco-Shakespearean performance and ecocriticism before suggesting a more ecosystemic reading of the texts’ material agents. We argue that a woke ecopoetic may further assist de-Westernising reading practices to allow for a more holistic capture of Shakespeare’s more-than-human textual agents. This, in turn, may point to our species’ embeddedness within complex ecosystems threatened by further degradation and mass extinction. A woke eco-Shakespearean perspective can therefore point us towards greater recognition of intra- and interspecies enmeshment within the plays and poems. This offers further opportunities to take greater personal and social environmental responsibility towards the more-than-human world so deeply embedded within Shakespeare’s textual landscapes.