Dennis Austin Britton

Dr. Dennis Austin Britton is an Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia (UBC), within the Faculty of Arts. He specializes in early modern English literature, particularly the works of William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser, with a focus on critical race studies, the history of race, Protestant theology, and the history of emotion.

Education: He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Research & Publications: Dr. Britton is the author of *Becoming Christian: Race, Reformation, and Early Modern English Romance* and co-editor of *Rethinking Shakespeare Source Study: Audiences, Authors, and Digital Technologies*. He is currently working on a monograph, *Shakespeare and Pity: A Literary History of Race and Feeling*, and a new critical edition of *Othello*. His research interrogates intersections of race, religion, and emotion in early modern texts, with recent publications addressing race in Shakespeare’s *Venus and Adonis*, Spenser’s *Faerie Queene*, and the cultural history of race (1550–1760).

Awards: He received the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2012–2013).

Teaching & Pedagogy: He teaches courses on early modern literature and critical race theory, emphasizing how race and emotion shape literary interpretation. Recent courses include analyses of Shakespeare, Spenser, and Renaissance drama through interdisciplinary frameworks.

Collaborations: He co-edited a special issue of *Spenser Studies* on race and collaborates on projects exploring STEM faculty development and digital humanities.