A&M-San Antonio recently hosted a weeklong series of events that celebrated English playwright and poet William Shakespeare and reimagined his work through Latine pop culture and visual storytelling.
Titled "The Bard in the Barrio: Latinx Pop Culture and Shakespeare Reimagined," the April 20–24 series of events brought together literature, comics, crafts, film, and scholarship in a creative exploration of how Shakespeare’s work continues to exist and evolve in contemporary culture. The initiative was sponsored by the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Department of Language, Literature, and Arts, and the Women’s and Gender Studies program.
At the heart of the week’s programming was an effort to formally shine a spotlight on the University Library’s Latinx Comics Special Collection, a curated set of more than 80 comics and graphic novels housed on the library’s first floor. The event offered an opportunity to highlight the collection in a way that connected directly to students’ personal experiences.
“It’s a big deal for us to have this kind of representation in our library for our student population,” said Dr. Adrianna Santos, associate professor and one of the event’s organizers. “Each time I walked past the display, I thought, ‘Students should know more about this. How can we bring more attention to all these moving parts?’ This event gave us the perfect opportunity.”
Santos co-founded the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva with Dr. Katherine Gillen, associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, and Dr. Kathryn Vomero Santos, associate professor of English at Trinity University. The Colectiva 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.
The week began with a reception and guest lecture by Dr. Frederick Luis Aldama, known as “Professor LatinX” Aldama, who leads the Latinx Pop Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, is a prolific scholar and editor whose work centers on Indigenous and Latin creators of comics, graphic novels, and popular media.
His lecture explored how creators are adapting Shakespeare’s stories into visual narratives that speak directly to contemporary audiences and historically marginalized communities. The event also served as part of the official unveiling of the Latinx Comics Collection.
Growing up, Aldama found comfort and inspiration in comics during a time shaped by personal socioeconomic challenges. That early connection fueled him to launch a career dedicated to expanding cultural representation in popular media.
“For our first-generation students, seeing someone like Dr. Aldama and hearing how comics shaped his life is incredibly powerful,” Santos said.
The timing of the visit was intentional. Aldama is preparing to publish a new comic project, “Shakespeare Reimagined: Latino Comics Remix,” and his appearance coincided with Shakespeare’s birthday and events planned as part of Dr. Yvette Chairez’s popular Shakespeare course on campus.
On April 21, students from that class hosted a lively Shakespeare’s Birthday Celebration in the lobby of Classroom Hall. The event featured custom T-shirts showcasing Shakespeare’s plays, pop-up activities, and outreach from the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva, which shared anthologies and materials with passersby.
Graduate student Ruben Ramirez, who helped organize the week’s activities, said the event reflected how Shakespeare is being taught and understood at A&M–San Antonio today.
“I used to have a complicated relationship with Shakespeare,” Ramirez said. “When I was younger, it felt distant. I didn’t see myself or my culture reflected in it. But through graduate study and working with the Borderlands Shakespeare Colectiva, I started seeing how adaptations and ‘radical recreations’ help me understand the original works better. Now, when I go back and read Shakespeare, I can see it through a cultural lens that makes more sense to me.”
Ramirez, who graduates this spring with a master’s in English and will begin a Ph.D. program in Chicana and Chicano Studies at UC Santa Barbara, served as a research assistant for faculty organizers and played a key role in marketing the events.
On April 22, the focus shifted to creativity with a Student Zine Fair and library arts-and-crafts workshop dubbed “Bard-Knock Life.” Held in the library, the event invited students to create their own zines and artistic interpretations inspired by Shakespeare and Latine pop culture traditions of DIY publishing and visual storytelling.
The week concluded on April 23 with a screening of the film “She’s the Man,” a modern teen adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night.” Before the movie, Chairez provided a brief academic introduction, connecting the film to Shakespeare’s original themes of gender, disguise, and identity—further reinforcing the idea that Shakespeare’s stories continue to be retold in ways that resonate with contemporary audiences.
While combining Shakespeare, comics, zines, and teen films might seem unconventional, organizers say that blending these elements is precisely the point.
“It may have seemed like unlikely pairings in the beginning,” Santos said, “but it ended up being something really special. Students were exposed to Shakespeare in so many different ways that weren’t traditional, and they had a lot of fun.”
The events also highlighted an ongoing resource that will continue to serve students.
“The main focus for me is the continued engagement with the Latinx Comics Collection,” Santos said. “It’s a unique resource that you don’t see at most university libraries, and I hope we continue to invest in growing it and bringing attention to it.”