Baldwin, Shakespeare, whiteness, and (anti)fandom: "What's love got to do with it?"

Abstract

Shakespeare's racial whiteness is not always positioned in the frame. It is not always acknowledged, publicly or critically, especially the powerful effects of that whiteness, which cannot be separated from the man. When acafans, fans, and antifans evade engagement with whiteness (and race, broadly speaking), much gets lost with respect to holistic knowledge production. One solution is to engage always—with a critical eye that is constructive and not reductive—how whiteness is constantly at work.