About Us

The Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva (BSC) is an award-winning group of scholars, educators, artists, and activists who engage with Shakespeare in ways that reflect the lived realities of the U.S.–Mexico Borderlands. We aim not only to change the way Shakespeare is taught and performed but also to promote the socially just futures envisioned en el arte de La Frontera.

Mission & Goals

Investing in Borderlands Communities

The Colectiva is deeply committed to amplifying and highlighting Chicanx, Latinx, and Indigenous artists, educators, activists, and scholars. Here are a few examples:

We commissioned a linocut print by South Texas borderland artist and educator Celeste De Luna of Metztli Press for the cover of the anthology.

We collaborated with Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say and the Guadalupe Latino Bookstore on events that promote the teaching of Latinx and Indigenous literature.

We’re proud to be Raíces Sponsors for Teatro Audaz San Antonio and are looking forward to an upcoming collaboration with them on a performance of Gregg Barrios’s I-DJ.

Making Works of Borderlands Shakespeare Accessible

The heart of our work is a three-volume collection of fourteen multilingual plays titled The Bard in the Borderlands: An Anthology of Shakespeare Appropriations en La Frontera. Published by ACMRS Press, this scholarly edition makes these works by Chicanx and Indigenous artists available to broad audiences, offering critical frameworks for understanding the rich tradition of Borderlands Shakespeare. 

Bringing The Bard in the Borderlands to Classrooms

-

Since the first volume of The Bard in the Borderlands was published, we have led workshops for Humanities Texas and several colleges and universities in the region and beyond.

We have also collaborated with a San Antonio teacher to develop English and Spanish lesson plans, and we are excited to continue generating more pedagogical materials in the years ahead. 

Nourishing Scholarship on Borderlands Shakespeare

We believe that one of the best ways to encourage the study of Borderlands Shakespeare is to nourish interdisciplinary communities of scholars.

We recently funded a cohort of early career fellows to develop projects on Shakespeare and Borderlands cultura. Our goal is to foster a thriving intellectual community and professional development opportunities that will support growth in the field.

People

Co-Founders

The three scholars at the helm of the project, Drs. Katherine Gillen, Adrianna M. Santos, and Kathryn Vomero Santos, each bring unique expertise and have been central to the development of the burgeoning subfield of Borderlands Shakespeare studies. They laid the groundwork for the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva in 2018 with the “Latinx Shakespeare: A Borderlands Drama Symposium.” In 2023, the Colectiva was awarded a $500,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation for their ongoing research on Shakespeare in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands.

Katherine Gillen

Dr. Katherine Gillen is Professor of English at Texas A&M University–San Antonio. She studies issues of race, gender, colonialism, and economics in early modern drama. The author of Chaste Value: Economic Crisis, Female Chastity, and the Production of Social Difference on Shakespeare’s Stage (Edinburgh UP, 2017). She is currently working on a monograph tentatively titled Shakespeare’s Racial Classicism: Whiteness, Slavery, and Humanism.

Adrianna M. Santos

Dr. Adrianna M. Santos, Associate Professor of English at Texas A&M University–San Antonio, has built her career on work that is deeply rooted in and accountable to Chicanx communities. Her book Cicatrix Poetics, Trauma and Healing in the Literary Borderlands: Beyond Survival (Palgrave 2024) examines Chicana survival narratives as a critical facet of social justice work. She has research expertise in cultural production, performance, and pedagogy.

Kathryn Vomero Santos

Dr. ​​Kathryn Vomero Santos is Associate Professor of English at Trinity University. She specializes in the study of translation, race, and colonialism in Shakespeare and his afterlives. She is currently completing a book titled Shakespeare in Tongues, which situates Shakespeare’s legacy within conversations about multilingualism, assimilation, and decolonial resistance in U.S. imperial contexts. Dr. Santos is also the co-editor of The Ethical Implications of Shakespeare in Performance and Appropriation and serves on the board of the Friends of Friendship Park.

 

Media and Events Manager

Ariana

As a dedicated South Texas community organizer and proud recipient of the Emerging Leader Award, Ariana is driven by a profound commitment to positively impacting her community. As the founder of the Islander Feminists, Ariana left a lasting mark on campus, advocating for change and aiding in the fight for free period products. She boasts a stellar track record in social media management and communications. She has been a driving force in electing candidates nationwide and excels in crafting and implementing advocacy opportunities for young people. Ariana contributed to a historic budget win centering young people’s experiences and investing in reproductive healthcare.

Media and Events Manager

Ariana

As a dedicated South Texas community organizer and proud recipient of the Emerging Leader Award, Ariana is driven by a profound commitment to positively impacting her community. As the founder of the Islander Feminists, Ariana left a lasting mark on campus, advocating for change and aiding in the fight for free period products. She boasts a stellar track record in social media management and communications. She has been a driving force in electing candidates nationwide and excels in crafting and implementing advocacy opportunities for young people. Ariana contributed to a historic budget win centering young people’s experiences and investing in reproductive healthcare.

Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow

Paloma Díaz-Minshew
Paloma Díaz-Minshew holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Global Latinx Studies from Trinity University. A published poet in The Trinity Review, Paloma graduated as the top student in Global Latinx Studies in 2024 and was honored to receive the Dr. Coleen Grissom Continued Commitment and Dedication Award. After working as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow on Volume 2 of The Bard in the Borderlands in 2022, she joined the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva as a Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow in 2024, in which capacity she is also pursuing her own scholarship at the intersection of Chicana feminism and Borderlands Shakespeare appropriation.

Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow

Paloma Díaz-Minshew
Paloma Díaz-Minshew holds a bachelor’s degree in English and Global Latinx Studies from Trinity University. A published poet in The Trinity Review, Paloma graduated as the top student in Global Latinx Studies in 2024 and was honored to receive the Dr. Coleen Grissom Continued Commitment and Dedication Award. After working as a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellow on Volume 2 of The Bard in the Borderlands in 2022, she joined the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva as a Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow in 2024, in which capacity she is also pursuing her own scholarship at the intersection of Chicana feminism and Borderlands Shakespeare appropriation.

Advisory Board

Norma Elia Cantú

Norine R. and T. Frank Murchison Distinguished Professor of the Humanities, Trinity University

Ruben Espinosa

Professor of English and Director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Arizona State University

Jesus Montaño

Assistant Professor of English, Baylor University