ABSTRACT
William Shakespeare’s ghost is to be found among the ruins of colonial inter-relations, circulating uncomfortably as an emblem of state hegemony, but also as a fugitive figure whose reclamation in the name of decolonization has served a purpose in storytelling from within a specifically First Nations aesthetic and political context. The all-consuming cannibal, whose acts of consumption are assimilative of all things spiritual and incarnate, is not far from one version of what Shakespeare might mean in Canadian First Nations’ decolonizing contexts – thus accounting for his relatively sparse cultural presence. The Canadian Adaptations of Shakespeare Project has tracked encounters between First Peoples in Canada and the Bard via its Spotlight on Canadian Aboriginal Adaptations of Shakespeare. There is a surprisingly large and growing archive of decolonizing work that retells traditional Shakespearean narratives through the multi-voiced storytelling perspectives of First Nations communities spread across Canada.
