Dr. Ray Rice’s primary teaching and research interest is identity—what constitutes it, what social and political forces contribute to it, and how ethical constructions depend upon it.  His current major writing project, The Good, the Bad and the Left: Gringo/Meticcio Dialectics in the Spaghetti Western (co-written with Theodore Van Alst of the University of Connecticut), examines the complex relationship between political protest and commercial success that constructed—and deconstructed—one of the most lucrative film genres of the second half of the twentieth century.  He also writes on Shakespeare and the English Renaissance theater, with particular attention to the construction and performance of gender roles and the ethics of revenge.  This emphasis on identity and ethical constructions is reflected in his classroom interests and teaching, which include science fiction, literary theory, maritime literature, ethics and philosophy, and film studies.