Jamie Paris Book Launch (Clothed Villainy)
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Join Jamie Paris for the launch of Clothed Villainy: Acting White in Early Modern Drama (University of Alabama Press). Featuring a presentation and a conversation hosted by Kristian Enright, followed by a book signing.
https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/9780817362669/jamie-paris/clothed-villainy
This event will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a YouTube stream: https://youtube.com/live/HfQsM6xVXRA
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From Shakespearean blackface to the alt-right’s khaki-clad protests, Clothed Villainy confronts the uncomfortable truths of racial performance across centuries. Paris argues that whiteness is not a fixed identity but a precarious and performative construct—shaped and sustained through actions, appearances, and cultural scripts.
Drawing on critical race theory, performance studies, and Indigenous scholarship, the books traces how racial scripts have been used to uphold white supremacy and erase marginalized identities. By examining the costuming and characterization of white actors portraying Black villains on the early modern stage, Paris reveals how these theatrical traditions continue to echo in contemporary racial politics.
Dr. Jamie Paris (Black and Métis) is an Instructor II in the Department of English, Theatre, Film, and Media at the University of Manitoba, and an assistant editor for Early Theatre. Paris's scholarship primarily focuses on premodern constructions of race, and he also studies Black and Indigenous literatures in Canada. He has published in numerous scholarly venues, including Canadian Literature, Shakespeare Quarterly, Literature Compass, and Public Humanities. Paris was also a contributing editor for I’ll Get Right on It: Poems on Working Live in the Climate Crisis (Fernwood Publishing), and his creative nonfiction has appeared in Prairie Fire. Clothed Villainy is his first book.
https://www.mcnallyrobinson.com/9780817362669/jamie-paris/clothed-villainy
This event will be hosted live in the Atrium of McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park and also available as a YouTube stream: https://youtube.com/live/HfQsM6xVXRA
---
From Shakespearean blackface to the alt-right’s khaki-clad protests, Clothed Villainy confronts the uncomfortable truths of racial performance across centuries. Paris argues that whiteness is not a fixed identity but a precarious and performative construct—shaped and sustained through actions, appearances, and cultural scripts.
Drawing on critical race theory, performance studies, and Indigenous scholarship, the books traces how racial scripts have been used to uphold white supremacy and erase marginalized identities. By examining the costuming and characterization of white actors portraying Black villains on the early modern stage, Paris reveals how these theatrical traditions continue to echo in contemporary racial politics.
Dr. Jamie Paris (Black and Métis) is an Instructor II in the Department of English, Theatre, Film, and Media at the University of Manitoba, and an assistant editor for Early Theatre. Paris's scholarship primarily focuses on premodern constructions of race, and he also studies Black and Indigenous literatures in Canada. He has published in numerous scholarly venues, including Canadian Literature, Shakespeare Quarterly, Literature Compass, and Public Humanities. Paris was also a contributing editor for I’ll Get Right on It: Poems on Working Live in the Climate Crisis (Fernwood Publishing), and his creative nonfiction has appeared in Prairie Fire. Clothed Villainy is his first book.
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Where is it happening?
McNally Robinson Booksellers, 1120 Grant Avenue,Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherMcNally Robinson Booksellers
