121 © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 M. T. Sasser, E. K. Atwood (eds.), Teaching Shakespeare Beyond the Major, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24224-3_8 Shakespeare Pedagogy and Twenty-First Century Multicultural Sensibilities Andani Kholinar In an essay for the Folger Shakespeare Library’s “Teaching Shakespeare: A Folger Education Blog” (2016a), Ayanna Thompson observes peoples’ surprise when she tells them that she, a Black woman, teaches and writes about Shakespeare and race. According to Thompson, in the current climate, these topics–Shakespeare and race–are usually viewed as mutually exclusive: you are either interested in Shakespeare OR race… And yet, Shakespeare provides us with incredibly rich plays that are flled with incredibly complex characters who frequently make references to racial differences. (2016a, para. 1) This surprise, whether expressed by laypeople on the streets or scholars in the university, dominates the teaching of Shakespeare to children in the United States. As a Black Muslim immigrant, I get similar reactions when I mention that I study Shakespeare. Shakespeare pedagogy, in order to respond to the needs of twenty-frst century multicultural classrooms, A. Kholinar (*) University of Education, Winneba, Ghana e-mail: akholinar@uew.edu.gh