The RSA Paul Oskar Kristeller Fellowships support scholarly research at the archive, collection, site, library, or other venue for scholarship. Paul Oskar Kristeller stood as a genuine “trait d’union” between Europe and America, both for publications that remain fundamental to this day as well as for his tutelage of generations of scholars.

Alexa Alice Joubin’s monograph explores transgender performances of Shakespeare. Shakespeare’s plays explore non-binary identities that fall under the category of transgender, but they are only beginning to be theorized. What constitutes trans narratives, and how do trans films about the early modern period carry out affective labor in global contexts since the late 1990s? One genre stands out in its explanatory power: films about early modern cross-gender theatre practices. These depictions of gender variance and sexual fluidity are enriched by meanings that are simultaneously screened by cinematic devices and produced in plays-within-the-film. The book reads hitherto neglected trans films through the lens of social reparation.