The Fundación Shakespeare Argentina presented the international educational project called “”World Shakespeare Project”” (WSP), with the presence of its Directors Dr Sheila Cavanagh (USA) and Dr. Kevin Quarmby, from Emory University (USA).

Watch the video:

Using new technologies, this international project links students across the world through William Shakespeare’s work. This is possible due to its universal themes. At the same time, students of different places or communities respond and interact with them in accordance with their own believes, envionments and traditions. For all the participants this is, without a doubt, a unique and enriching experience.

You may hear Dr. Cavanagh explaining what WSP is about in the event that the FSA organised at the 2013 Buenos Aires Book Fair in the following link:

Students and teachers from the Universidad del Salvador (USAL) Faculty of Philosophy and Literature -City of Buenos Aires-, Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP) Department of Modern Languages, and the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba (UNC) Faculty of Languages.

“World Shakespeare Project” Directors Dr. Sheila Cavanagh (USA) and Dr. Kevin Quarmby (UK) visited Argentina the first days of May, 2013, which gave the students of the aforementioned universities the opportunity to attend the first face-to-face workshop with these two Shakespeare specialists (Apart from being a professor at Emory University, Dr. Quarmby is a renowned television and theatre actor in England).

On a second meeting, the students shared online lectures on Shakespeare, since they were held through videoconference. The Argentine students worked with Emory University students (Atlanta, USA) on Shakespeare’s plays’ scenes which were analysed and performed guided by Dr. Cavanagh in Atlanta, USA, and Dr. Quarmby in London and Belfast.

Through these international projects, the FSA forges and strengthens bonds with the educational community, contributing therefore to the knowledge, spreading and integration of our country to the rest of the world.wsp1 wsp2 wsp3 wsp4 wsp5 We share the article on the Platform Project Muse “Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies” Volumen 13 Number 4 Fall 2013

The Curiosity of Nations:

Shakespeare and International Electronic Collaboration by
Sheila T. Cavanagh 

The World Shakespeare Project (WSP)—www.worldshakespeareproject.org—co-directed by Sheila T. Cavanagh and Kevin Quarmby of Emory University, is crafting a model for global twenty-first-century higher education through an interconnected series of live, interactive collaborations that cross international, institutional, disciplinary, sociocultural, religious, linguistic, economic, and other disparate academic divides. As the recent Observatory on Borderless Higher Education Report suggests, traditional conceptualizations of tertiary education are rapidly becoming outmoded, but new educational constellations are often problematic:

The twenty-first century offers complex financial, technological, and internationalization issues that demand more rapid change than American universities traditionally provide. In response to this need, the WSP is creating, evaluating, and disseminating a multi-faceted educational structure that can be adapted for use globally and across the disciplines. It was recognized in 2012 as the only recipient of Emory University Research Committee’s “High Risk/ High Potential Initiative,” which was established to promote non-traditional interdisciplinary collaborations, innovative methods, and inquiries regarding emerging areas. It has also received several other internal grants and a US Challenge Grant from the Royal Society of the Arts in order to expand its partnerships with North American Indian Colleges.

The WSP links disparate international Shakespearean faculty and students together electronically. The expertise of Emory’s Educational Technology staff allows us to establish live communication with institutions lacking comparable facilities. Cavanagh is WSP’s founding director, and she has made regular academic visits to India since 2000. Consequently, the WSP has forged numerous connections between Atlanta and communities in India, including, for example, tribal colleges serving first-generation learners in West Bengal and other regions in Eastern India. The WSP also possesses significant links with the United Kingdom, drawing in part from Quarmby’s lengthy prior career as a professional actor in London. In addition, the WSP currently works with Université Hassan II and Al Akhawayn University in Morocco, with universities associated with Fundación Shakespeare Argentina, and with Shakespearean faculty and students in Brazil. With the cooperation of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium, it has also expanded its collaborative network to reach American Tribal Colleges, such as Cankdeska Cikana Community College in North Dakota and Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College in Michigan. In addition, we are partnering with Gretchen Minton from Montana State University and Scott Jackson from Shakespeare Notre Dame to investigate the further inclusion of western American Indian students. These tribal connections, along with our growing international community, deepen all WSP collaborative experiences. Our live and electronic guest lecturers as well as our undergraduate research, internship, collaborative, and exchange opportunities enable us to involve an eclectic local and “virtual” group in meaningful ways. Emory’s Halle Institute for Global Learning and its Hightower Fund, for example, have generously sponsored residencies with London stage and opera director Stephen Unwin and with Peabody Award-winning documentary maker Steve Rowland. Future residencies, such as the 2013 visits of [End Page 122] Shakespeare in Prison directors Curt Tofteland and Tom Magill, will broaden the diverse scope of WSP classroom endeavors.

WSP sessions typically involve live videoconference discussions and performance exercises shared between faculty and students in each location. For some of our partners, Shakespeare holds an important place in the curriculum; for others, these mutual classes primarily promote internationalization efforts or offer opportunities to join broad educational discussions. We aim to create a widely accessible learning environment, which constitutes one of the most challenging, but essential, aspects of our venture. Some of the international and tribal college students are the first in their families to receive a formal education and have had limited travel experiences. Other WSPstudents live in cosmopolitan regions, such as Kolkata or Casablanca. Most of our international partners encounter English as non-native speakers. Each student population, however, whether at Emory…

http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_for_early_modern_cultural_studies/v013/13.4.cavanagh.html

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