Friday, November 6, 2015
My Colonialism Text Set-Rationale
Main Topic: Colonialism/Imperialism/Empire.
Intended Audience: This is for an accelerated junior English class.
Why is it important?: The legacy of empire and colonization is one that still exists today, even decades after the British Empire lost the majority of their power. Even though we may not always see the effects of colonization and imperialism, it still exists, especially in literature. It affects the ways that writers wrote, it determined what could be written, and it influenced the content of numerous novels across various eras of literature. Imperialism can be at the forefront of the novel, or it can be hidden in the background, only brought to the surface by close analysis. By reading text with colonial context to it, as well as looking at it from a post-colonial perspective, our readers will be able to gain a better understanding about how Empire affected the literature that we still read today.
What standards would this text support?: This text set, and the lessons that will be included within it, touch on many Common Core standards, including but not limited to:CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.4,CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.9. It also will support critical thinking skills as we will be reading examples of literary criticism and use those examples to guide our own analysis of the texts.
What are the essential questions?: How does empire/colonialism affect how the story is told? Who gets to tell the story? Who has the power in the story? How does this affect our understanding of the novel? How is empire still present today? Why is it important to look at thinks from the post-colonial perspective? Who is in power and who is subject to that power? How do these relationships work?
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Text Set Part 1-Fiction
Summary of text: "Aldous Huxley's tour de force, Brave New World is a darkly satiric version of a "utopian" future--where humans are genetically bred and pharmaceutically anesthetized to passively serve a ruling order. A powerful work of speculative fiction that has enthralled and terrified readers for generations, it remains remarkably relevant to this day as both a warning to be heeded as we head into tomorrow and as thought-provoking, satisfying entertainment" (Summary on back of novel provided by HarperCollins Publishers)
Why it's included: Of the three novels fiction novels included in this text set, Brave New World is the odd ball in many ways. It is a relatively easy read, and it is easy because it is such a captivating, exciting novel. This novel tends to go over well amongst readers because it has the excitement of a futuristic, technological dystopia, as well as many other issues as well. As far as the imperialistic/colonialist discourses in this novel go, they are not nearly as obvious as some of the other texts that we will be reading in this unit. In Huxley's novel, the discourses of the imperialist attitudes are more subdued with the interactions between John, his mother, and Bernard and Lenina (among others). Because this is not as obvious as other texts in this set, I believe that putting this text first works well as an introduction into the topic of colonialism, while also serving as an interesting, exciting hook for the rest of the unit.
Use of text: This is going to be the introductory novel of the set. Because the examples of imperialism/colonialism are so focused in here, it gives us good, clear examples to work with in order to further our understanding of what these concepts are and how they affect the works that we read. I will also pair this reading up with a short essay by Edward Said, called "The Native Under Control." Through the use of literary analysis, it will help the students gain a better understanding of the novel itself. The concepts seen in this novel, while still abstract at this point, will become more explicit as we go into our next novels. As a teacher, this text is useful because it gets the kids interested while introducing the topic of this unit in a small, but meaningful way that will serve to set up future novels. It is also the perfect example of a text that has colonial aspects to it without that necessarily being the major focus of a story. We will come back to this idea of colonialism playing both major and minor roles in the novels and why that might be.
One thing that we will be doing throughout all of the texts in this set, that I will introduce with this reading, is a Setting Tracker. In their journals, the students will track the various settings in each text, as well as where the author is from, and then any mention of a foreign country or city. When we discuss this in class, we will add them to a Google Lit-Trip using Google Earth. Being able to track setting, or even mentions of foreign places, is a great way to identify colonial subtexts within the novels. I will also use a similar method throughout the unit to trace "Who is in control?" where the students sort out who is being controlled (who is subject) and who is the controller (has mastery over another).
Summary: This novel shows the clash of two cultures in 1920s British India, as an Indian Muslim doctor, Aziz, encounters and interacts with the British ruling class. This film is set right around the time of the British Raj and the Indian Independence Movement. Aziz meets Mrs. Moore, an older British woman who is accepting of the Indian culture. Aziz has never met a British person with the respect that she has, and he befriends her and her family/friends very quickly. Adela, a young girl and friend of Mrs. Moore, wants to experience the "real India" and begs Aziz to take her and her friends into the wild, untamed Marabar Caves. Once they reach the caves, the horrors of "real India" come alive and overcome Adela, resulting in trouble for Aziz.
Why it's included: This is a text that covers a historical period that is still relatively fresh in our recent history. It also very clearly shows the dichotomy of the native Indians and the British ruling class. It is a textbook, clear cut case of imperialism. The way that the book clearly divides the two worlds into "real India" and "British India" raises a lot of questions that can be discussed throughout class.
Use of the text: This is a fairly easy, yet lengthy read, and so I intend to read at least a good portion of this in class. The questions that we will focus on here will be "Who is telling the story and why is this significant?" "What are the differences between the "real India" and the British India?" "Why is Adela overcome with fear when she experiences the "real India"?" And "Can native Indian culture ever truly be accepted into the British imperial ideology?" In this case, the best way to put that in regards to this text is "Could Aziz and Mrs. Moore ever truly be friends, be equals?" This is a question that comes up quite a bit when reading this novel and will provide a lot of discussion. I intend to do a variety of discussion strategies with this text, as there are so many things for us to debate and discuss and figure out in regards to the power structures in this novel. That is a general theme about all of these novels; they all deal with power. We will continue to trace place and power throughout this text, and refer back to the "Native Under Control" reading introduced in the previous novel. The more that we use this secondary text by Said and the more we practice applying it to different texts, the better the understanding will be. In addition, we will watch the film version of this novel and discuss the differences between the novel and film, and why the director (David Lean) chose to write it the way he did. As a teacher, this text is useful because it really gets into the heart of what we're talking about in this unit, and it allows the students to build off of what they learned from Brave New World and apply it here. It also allows for many deep discussions and continues to build towards the final fiction novel in this unit, Heart of Darkness.
Summary of text: "One of the most influential works of the twentieth century, Conrad's haunting tale exposes the grim realities of imperialism and the tenuous fabric that holds civilization together. In Heart of Darkness, Marlow, a seaman and wanderer, recounts his physical and psychological journey to the center of the African continent in search of the dangerous and enigmatic trader Kurtz. While navigating the dark rivers of the Belgian Congo, Marlow witnesses the brutalization of the natives by white traders and struggles with what he discovers is the true heart of darkness" (Summary provided by Penguin Publishers).
Why it's included: Heart of Darkness is the novel when it comes to discussing imperialism in literature. It is at the center of the novel and no text set on this topic would be complete without it. It is an excellent book for answering the questions of "who gets to tell the story?" as well as looking at how native characters are depicted in the novel and how colonialism impacts the native subjects in the text.
Use of the text: Everything builds up to this text. Before reading Conrad's novel, we will discuss a brief history on the Scramble for Africa, as well as read another short Said essay on Heart of Darkness, which the students may then use to help read the novel. Heart of Darkness is a dense read. It can be challenging. And I will tell the students that I am in no way expecting them to understand everything completely in this novel; there's a lot to wrestle with. This novel will disorientate you and it is just as easy to get lost in the pages of Conrad's greatest work as it is to get lost in the murky jungles of the Congo. Students will continue to track place and power, as well as do brief character analysis for the various native characters that they encounter--how are they described? What do they wear? Do they speak? What do they say? How do they act? This novel is useful because pretty much every major question that we want to look at when it comes to this unit can be explored in Heart of Darkness. It's a relatively short read, but there is so much there to discuss, especially in regards to power and who is speaking. This is also the first novel in the set where we physically see the active process of imperialism take place. We progress from a novel where it is very latent, in Brave New World, to one where we physically encounter it happening. Combined with the two Said essays, as well as the historical background on European colonization of Africa, the students will have a good foundation for discussion and analysis of this text. Honestly, other than their place and power trackers, and their character depictions, I'm not going to ask the students to do that much during the reading. This is a book that is really easy to get into as a student, but also really easy to be intimidated by if it isn't gone about in the right way. For me as a student reading Heart of Darkness, I hated having to go through and answer worksheet questions on the text. But when I read it for enjoyment, I loved this novel and got a lot out of it because of that reason. I don't want the students to have to focus on specifics too much in this novel; I want them to read it for what it is, let them form their own thoughts, and take the discussion and analysis from there. This is a novel that can go off into many directions; I want the students to determine where they want to take this novel.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
Text set part 3-Non-fiction
Summary: Said is commonly referred to as the authority on imperialism/colonialism in regards to the world of literature. A renowned literary critic, Edward Said explores the world of colonialism and post-colonialism in his collection of works, Culture and Imperialism. The two specific essays that I selected explore and directly relate to the general content of this course. In "Two Visions in Heart of Darkness," Said explores his perspective of how Conrad constructs the novel and why this is important. The first vision "allows the old imperial enterprise full scope to play itself out conventionally, to render the world as official European or Western imperialism saw it," (Said, 25). The second vision "sees itself as Conrad saw his own narratives, local to a time and place, neither unconditionally true nor unqualifiedly certain," (25). Said looks at if Conrad was writing Heart of Darkness as an attack on imperialism or as an argument for it. In "The Native Under Control" explores power relations between the Native and the invading force, providing various examples of these relations throughout literature, some of which we read in this unit.
Why it's included: Literary criticism can be a challenging task for students, but it is one that is incredibly helpful when it comes to critically reading a text. By reading Said's essays, the students will get an experience working with secondary sources and challenging literary criticism, and then explore how and why people write literary criticism. Reading essays by literary critics and theorists helps students approach the text from a much deeper, critical angle.
Use of text: We will read "The Native Under Control" right at the same time as we get to the introduction of John the Savage in Brave New World. We will read "Two Visions in Heart of Darkness" after reading the novel because I want the students to gain their own perspectives of the novel before reading someone else's. Once we read Said's essay, we will go back and look at the novel again, through this lens, and see where they can see examples of these two visions, using textual evidence to provide support for their claims. We can then translate this into a class discussion/debate on the two visions of Heart of Darkness, as well as explore avenues to seek other visions of the text as well. Literary criticism is challenging to read. I'm going to make this explicit to the students. It's difficult, you're going to struggle with it, and I am in no way expecting you to understand everything. But I would not assign it if I did not think that it was A.) doable and B.) helpful to the overarching theme of the unit. I want my students to struggle with and play with these concepts, ask lots of questions, which we can then discuss in class as a whole. The more practice that the students get with literary criticism, the more that they can then begin to think like literary critics and do their own critical analysis of the texts that they read in class.
Summary: This is an online file of a chapter from a history textbook on the Scramble for Africa. Unfortunately, I could not find the original author/publisher of the textbook, though the link is included in they hyperlink above. The chapter discusses some of the background of the Scramble for Africa during the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as reviewing some of the key terms that we have already introduced in this class. It describes Africa before the rush of colonialism took hold, why the Scramble for Africa took place, what drove imperialism, why specifically was the Congo desirable, as well as the wars and politics surrounding the division of Africa.
Why it's included: This chapter is a simple, concise, yet thorough overview of the events leading up to and during the Scramble for Africa. Having a historical context to a novel as challenging as Heart of Darkness is helpful when trying to understand why Marlow is in the Congo. There are many things in the novel that allude to issues discussed in this chapter, but are never directly talked about. Having the background knowledge on these details prior to reading Heart of Darkness will be helpful.
Use of text: This will be used to provide historical context to the setting and plot of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It shows a physical map, which I will put up in class all unit, of which empires controlled what in Africa, as well as a lot of background to the events leading up to and during the Scramble for Africa. This brief historical background will give readers a better understanding to the what and why of Heart of Darkness, as well as a frame of reference as to the historical accuracy of the novel as well as providing insight into the mindset of Joseph Conrad when writing the novel, which can be later tied to the Said essay and the discussion that will follow it.
Summary: "In less that one hundred years, the British made themselves the masters of India. They ruled for another hundred, leaving behind the independent nations of India and Pakistan when they finally withdrew in 1947. Both nations would owe much to the British Raj: under its rule, Indians learned to see themselves as Indians; its benefits included railways, roads, canals, schools, universities, hospitals, universal language and common law.
None of this, however, was planned. After a series of emergencies in the eighteenth century transformed a business partnership-the East India Company-into the most formidable war machine in Asia, conquest gathered its own momentum. Fortunes grew, but, alongside them, Britons grew troubled by the despotism that had been created in their name. The result was the formation of a government that balanced firmness with benevolence, and had as its goal the advancement of India.
But the Raj, outwardly so monolithic and magnificent, always rested precariously on the goodwill of Indians. In this remarkable exploration of British rule in India, Lawrence James chronicles the astonishing heroism that created it, the mixture of compromise and firmness that characterized it, and the twists and turns of the independence struggle that ended it." (Via Amazon)
Why it's included: Similar to how the textbook chapter above provides background to the Scramble for Africa that is helpful to their understanding of Heart of Darkness, this text helps students gain additional knowledge about the British Raj in British India. I feel like many students may know something about the British occupation of India, though the extent of their knowledge may be limited. Most of our history classes tend to focus on US history, making British occupation of India a footnote in our history despite being at the forefront of India's. Bringing this knowledge to the forefront of our history will benefit them in their understanding of both A Passage to India as well as recent colonial history in general.
Use of text: This is a really long text, so we will only be reading certain portions of it. The part that I plan to focus on the most is the "Making" of the British Raj as it is what most directly applies to A Passage to India. Forster's novel occurs in the midst of the British Raj, and so using James' text in conjunction with A Passage to India to teach students the historical context of the novel will be incredibly helpful. Once we have read up on the key components of the "making" of the British Raj, and then completed A Passage to India, we can then begin to unmake the British Raj. We may or may not read some passages from Raj for that, depending on time and necessity, but it will not be as in depth as the "making" sections of the text. Instead, once we finish Forster's novel, we will then use the events in A Passage to India to deconstruct, or unmake, the Raj. How does Aziz's friendship with Mrs. Moore and Fielding deconstruct this established social hierarchy of the Raj? How do the Marabar Caves play into this structure? How does the fear of the "real India" in the novel reflect the fear of potential Indian rebellions in regards to the established power structures in British India?
Additional texts: We may also read some articles about Indian rebellions in the context of the novel and how the British's fear of revolt is reflected in the novel.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Text Set part 2-Illustrated books/Picture Books
Summary: Words can only describe something like the slave trade so much, so Tom Feelings uses 80 pages of fine illustrations to truly capture the imagery and pain of the journey of the Triangular Slave Trade. He illustrates the living conditions on the slave trade, the anger and anxiety of being separated from ones family, the physical punishment undergone by slaves on the trip. Pictures are sketched in black and white and grey, as seen below, really drawing out issues of race during the slave trade. Feelings does an excellent job of showing what happens in a way that telling never could.
Why it's included: Students may not bet familiar with picture books or graphic novels; they may think that the idea of them is rather childish. Feelings' book is anything but. We read about the slave trade in history and in literature, but there is only so much that words can do to express the raw emotion of it. This book provides another take on it, from the slaves' perspectives,while upholding the cliche of "a picture is worth a thousand words."
Use of text: Because this book is A.) expensive and B.) entirely illustrations, the way that I plan to use this text is break students up into assigned groups and let them pick 3-5 illustrations that they want to talk about, that they find really striking; there are a lot to pick. Then I'll ask them to write a short creative piece revolving around those selected images, translating the emotion of Feelings' illustration into words. Students in high school rarely exercise their creative muscles, but this text will provide the perfect opportunity to do so. There will be a lot of free-writing/journal entries while we use this text; students will journal about what is going on in the image, why it is powerful, why Feelings drew it that way etc. We will also take note of how the slaves are portrayed here compared to the natives in Heart of Darkness, but even in comparison to the subjects in A Passage to India and Brave New World. This text allows us to explore questions of power, but also who is telling the story and how it is told.
Illustrated Text #2: The Land of Gray Wolf by Thomas Locker, reading level range 2nd grade and up, page numbers 1-32.
Summary of text: In this piece of children's literature, Thomas Locker explore colonialism on our own homefront through the eyes of a Native American tribe and central character, Running Deer, as they are faced with European settlers coming to their lands, in a brief, illustrated snapshot of Native American history in "New World." This short text addresses the issues and anxieties that Native Americans faced during the arrival of pilgrims to the New World, such as the destruction of the homeland and diaspora of Native Americans onto reservations. It also neatly details the relationship between Native Americans and the Natural World through both text and imagery.
Why it's included: The novels that we read in this unit deal with colonization of foreign lands, but it is important to read an example of the colonization that happened here by European settlers. The concept of colonialism isn't something new that took place during the 18th-20th centuries; its roots can be traced all the way back to the arrival of the pilgrims in what we now call America. Again, high school students may think that reading a children's book is too childish for them, but this book is a perfect example of how colonialism impacts literature of all genres for all ages.
Use of text: When I teach this text to the class, we're going to do an old fashion "story time" lesson. Sometimes, the stresses of being in high school can get to you as a student, and so briefly removing students from those stresses by taking them back to a time of carefree innocence is a nice change of pace for our adolescents. The cool thing about going back and reading children's literature from the perspective of a student in high school is that it allows students to apply the knowledge that they know now to something that they would have read years ago; it shows how texts even from 2nd grade still maintain their relevance, and how meaning changes with knowledge as you go on through education. Beyond this, it relates to the content of this unit. We will continue to examine power relations between the subject and the master, while also comparing the plight of the natives in Locker's book to the plight of those that we see in the fiction texts that we will be reading. Also, our students will have read "Native Under Control" by Said, and they might choose to apply the knowledge from that text to this one.
Illustrated text #3: The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant by Jean De Brunhoff, reading level ages 4-8, pp 1-56.
Summary: Students have probably seen the image of Babar the Elephant before, even if they have never actually read the stories about him. He is a rather iconic figure in children's literature. This text tells the story, through words and illustrations, of a little elephant, Babar, whose mother is killed by hunters and escapes to the civilized world, where he befriends the Old Lady. Babar becomes civilized and educated, and eventually returns home and is crowned King of the Elephants.
Why it's included: On its surface, this is a somewhat innocent story, however there a lot of similarities between the story of Babar and the stories of the various characters in the fiction novels read in this unit. Babar's homeland is overtaken by an invading force, the hunters, who kill his mother, and he escapes into the "civilized" world where he becomes cultured and educated. This directly ties to the "civilization narrative" that is common in colonialist texts. Babar befriends someone from the dominant culture and becomes civilized, returning back to his home where he becomes King, now part of that dominant culture.
Use of the text: This piece of children's literature immediately made me thing of Aziz in A Passage To India, who also befriends and old woman who tries to get Aziz to assimilate into her world, but ultimately, it is not possible. Doing a close analysis of Babar and Aziz may help students understand A Passage To India better. It also allows us to talk about the concept of civilization in regards to colonialist texts. Often in these texts, the rationale for colonizing a foreign subject is to civilize the native savages that inhabit the land, in essence doing them a favor. However, can you really force a native subject into the world of the dominant culture? With Babar, we see the native being brought into the civilized world, while in A Passage to India (as well as the other novels), it is the civilized dominant culture that is being brought into the wild, untamed native world. What problems to these cause. How do we relate Babar and John the Savage's journeys from native world to dominant world to Adela and Kurtz's (and Marlow's) decent into the "darkness" of the Marabar Caves and Congo, respectively? This short children's book gives us a lot to discuss in regards to understanding the major novels and abstract ideas in this lesson.
Monday, November 2, 2015
Alternative text-A Passage to India film
Summary of text: E.M. Forster's novel, A Passage to India, comes to life in David Lean's film adaptation. The story of Aziz, the Indian Muslim doctor living in British India, and his interactions with Mrs. Moore, Adela, and Professor Fielding are visually portrayed throughout the film, as well as the journey into the Marabar Caves, Adela's "attack," and the ensuing trial.
Link to film on YouTube.
Use of text: Film adaptations can be good and bad. This film adaptation, in my opinion, does a great job of capturing Forster's novel without losing much of the things that make it such a powerful read. Students will watch the film and pay close detail to the portrayal of characters in the film vs. the book, the visual portrayal of power structures in the film, the imagery of the Marabar Caves in both the film and the novel, etc. Students will then do a brief film review, listing three major changes and the film and possible reasoning for these changes, as well as if these changes influence how we view the characters/actions in the film and novel. They will then discuss how well the film followed the plot of the novel, how accurately the characters were portrayed, how well did the actors portray the characters, how the attire/setting was reflective of the time period, how music/effects were used, and any other thoughts about the film in relation to what we have discussed in this unit.
Other possible alternative texts: We may also try to find music written by Indian people about living in British India as well as any poetry written by Indians during this time.
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