Kenji Yoshino on Shakespeare and Justice Sept 19.
Celebrated Legal Scholar and Author Kenji Yoshino to Speak on Shakespeare’s Plays and What They Have to Teach about Justice
Free, thought-provoking event to take place at The Evergreen State College, Tacoma Campus, September 19 at 7 p.m.
Celebrated legal scholar Kenji Yoshino will speak on Shakespearean drama and the role it plays in critical crises in contemporary life, law and current affairs.
Basing his remarks in research completed in authoring his new book, A Thousand Times More Fair, Yoshino will apply insights from Shakespearean drama to current dilemmas facing us as we seek a fair and just society.
The event is free and open to the public and will take place at The Evergreen State College, Tacoma campus on September 19 at 7 pm. The campus is located at 1210 6th Avenue in Tacoma.
Driving Directions for Evergreen, Tacoma
About Kenji Yoshino
A renowned legal scholar, Yoshino's first book, Covering, was acclaimed–from the New York Times Book Review to O, The Oprah Magazine, to the American Lawyer–for its elegant prose, its good humor, and its brilliant insights into civil rights and discrimination law.
Yoshino’s provocative new book, A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare’s Plays Teach Us About Justice addresses fundamental questions we ask about our world today: Why is the rule of law better than revenge? How much mercy should we show a wrongdoer? What does it mean to "prove" guilt or innocence? As Yoshino argues, a searching examination of Shakespeare's plays–and the many advocates, judges, criminals, and vigilantes who populate them–can elucidate some of the most troubling issues in contemporary life.
With a great ear for Shakespeare and an eye trained steadily on current affairs, Yoshino considers how competing models of judging presented in Measure for Measure resurfaced around the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor; how the revenge cycle of Titus Andronicus illuminates the "war on terror" and our military engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq; how the white handkerchief in Othello and the black glove in the O. J. Simpson trial reflect forms of proof that overwhelm all other evidence; and how the spectacle of an omnipotent ruler voluntarily surrendering power in The Tempest, as Cincinnatus did before him and George Washington did after him, informs regime change in our own time.
About the Daniel J. Evans Chair in Liberal Arts
Support for this event is provided by endowment funds of The Daniel J. Evans Chair in Liberal Arts. Funded by a state grant and matching donations from many generous people, The Daniel J. Evans Chair in Liberal Arts was established in 1991 to enrich academic programs and intensively support entry level classes (Core programs). This endowment honors and pays tribute to Daniel Evans – Washington State legislator, U.S. Senator, Governor of Washington State, past president of The Evergreen State College, and a nationally respected statesman. The Chair allows distinguished scholars to work with Evergreen’s newest students, thereby exposing them to the best possible minds at an early stage in their academic careers.