Re-imagining Ethics, Rethinking Rights, and Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare

Daniel David Moses's Brébeuf's Ghost and the Specters of the Human

Authors

  • Don Moore McMaster University

Abstract

"Re-imagining Ethics, Rethinking Rights, and Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare: Daniel David Moses's Brébeuf's Ghost and the Specters of the Human" retells the story of the near decimation of the Huron/Wyandot nation, a founding moment in Canada's colonial pre-history. Moore's essay interrogates Moses's play's adaptation of Shakespeare--a key colonialist symbol of cultural "authenticity”—as a strategy for reimagining and renewing First Nations Canadian history, culture, and human rights. Moses's spectral imagery and "hauntological" approach to historiography demonstrate the ways in which the occluded specters of First Nations Canadian culture haunt and disrupt their Western-centric Canadian context of enunciation. In doing so, Moore argues, Moses rethinks human rights and the very ethical subject of "humanity" as a kind of "adaptive ethics" of cultural inclusivity.

Author Biography

Don Moore, McMaster University

Don Moore specializes in Critical and Cultural Theory. He has published articles on critical theory, Canadian adaptations of Shakespeare, ethics, globalization, film, and 9/11 in such journals as The Journal of Popular Culture, Politics and Culture, The Review of Education, Pedagogy and Cultural Studies, and the celebrated Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare website at the University of Guelph. Don is currently co-editing a special double issue of the Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies on the topic "Beyond Ground Zero: 9/11 and the Futures of Critical Theory."

Downloads

Published

2007-05-01