Historical Perspectives
Articles
Popova, Maria (2015) in Brain Pickings [https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/11/03/only-whats-necessary-peanuts-chip-kidd/]. Charlie Brown was the first comic Strip to include a black character and comment on Black Civil Rights. This blog uses letters between the creator, Charles M. Schultz, and his audience to discuss the genesis and impact of the character, Franklin, a Black child. Focus on the persuasive language used by his fans to convince him to tackle the issue as well as the C21st evaluation of his work. This text would work especially well with Go back to where you came from.
Short stories
Baynton, Barbara. (). “A Dreamer” in Bush Studies. Set in colonial Australia, this story depicts the Australian landscape as an destructive force that divides the protagonist from those she loves. Analyse the way the landscape and weather symbolise the protagonist’s psychological state, and discuss the force of love which gives her courage to discover a way to overcome all obstacles as well as the irony of the ending
Novels
Rhue, Martin. The Wave. This quick read tells the true story of a history teacher who accidentally created a neo-Nazi club in his school as an experiment to show his class why people followed Hitler. A fantastic text highlighting the benefits and problems associated with a rediscovery of the past. Ask Ms Carmyn for a study guide which highlights the techniques in this novel. There is a film of this text, but it doesn’t have many techniques to talk about; the novel is much better.
Bookriot [http://bookriot.com/2017/01/10/read-harder-2017-read-a-classic-by-an-author-of-color/] has a wonderful list of classics by Writers of Colour going back over 100 years. Many of these texts have a historical dimension, as well as depicting life from a non-White perspective.
Films
Coppola, Sophia. Marie Antoinette. An interpretation of the frequently vilified historical figure of Marie Antoinette, focusing on her transformation from a family-oriented Austrian princess into a materialistic Queen setting trends in for the French court. Pay particular attention to the way the soundtrack, costumes and setting are used to reflect Marie’s transformation from a homesick child to trend-setting adult and final alienation from her populace. You may also like to consider why the film ends before the historical moment for which she is so famous. Use the commentaries to find out the composers’ intentions, but make sure you relate them to belonging. An excellent review can be found at http://www.dvdinmypants.com/reviews/H-N/marie_antoinette.php
erman, Mark. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. A chilling portrayal of the power of society to define belonging, this film depicts the holocaust from the point of view of a young German boy who develops a friendship with a Jewish boy the other side of a barbed wire fence (Auschwitz). Discuss the way the soundtrack (detailed analysis available at http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/boy_striped.html), lighting and camera angles frame the innocence of the protagonists. http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=50113 has an interview with the director and http://www.scribd.com/doc/17366679/Boy-in-Striped-Pyjamas-film-viewing-worksheets has a viewing guide.
Nair, Mira. Vanity Fair. In this elegant satire of C19th society, Becky Sharp claws her way up the social ladder among lavish sets and costumes, but don’t let this distract you from some very important comments about the nature of female society. The extras will give you a good understanding of the historical context and the director’s intentions. Focus on the way the camera and dialogue compel you to empathise with Becky even when she’s being less than endearing. A good review can be found at http://www.aboutfilm.com/movies/v/vanityfair.htm. Advanced studetns should look at the way this film re-evaluates the themes of the original book.
The Redfern Story
Short Stories
Blackman, Malorie. “North” in Unheard Voices: a collection of stories and poems to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. Ed. Malorie Blackman. This story describes the experiences of a young slave girls as she and her mother run from slavery – the way she discovers freedom at the end can be contrasted with the experiences of Caliban and Ariel in The Tempest or the refugees in Go back to Where you came from. Make sure you consider the use of names (eg the ironically named Best Friend) and the use of first person so that the reader is drawn into the main characters mind so that we discover freedom along with the narrator, and this way this affects your response at the end of the story.
Quansah, Grace. “The Awakwning of Elmina” in Unheard Voices: a collection of stories and poems to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. Ed. Malorie Blackman. This poem describes the narrator’s discovery of the terrible slave-trading past when visiting the World Heritage site of Elmina Castle, Ghana. The voice moves from relatively formal travel guide to a history book vocabulary filled with powerful adjectives to reflect the narrator’s horrific heritage. Her experiences would fit very well with those of the participants in Go back to where you came from.
Picture Books
Rebecca Young and Matt Ottley.(2015). Teacup. This lyrical but sparsely-worded story can be read as a tale about retaining one's identity through cultural history. The words are deceptively simple, relying on contrast and the accumulation of images to tell the story. Look at the symbolism of the items he takes with him (especially the teacup) as well as the sea, the boat and the tree. The illustrations are equally symbolic, using space, proportion and 'camera angles' to enrich the text. Better responses would also discuss the way the text and illustrations interact in the readers mind to discover the role of imagination and memory in creating identity.
Poems
cummings e e. "next to of course god america" online at The Poetry Archive [http://www.poetryarchive.org/poem/next-course-god-america. This satirical poem uses unconventional punctuation and simple language to carry a serious antiwar message. Nationaist Us cliche's are juxtaposed against grasphic descriptions of the "heroic dead", enabling readers to discover the need for a pacificst political stance.
Philips, Katherine. (1678). "A Country Life" online at The Illuminarium [http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/philips/philipsbib.htm. This poem looks back to the classic "Golden Age" to discover a world innocent of materialism and lust, where true friendship and art were possible. She compares this state with life in the country, which she juxtaposes with life in London, where people care only about wealth and courtship. This dichotomy is also evident in The Tempest, and even Motorcycle Diaries and Life of Pi. Look for classical allusions and the nouns and adjectives she categorises on either side of the city/country dichotomy. You should also mention the tight rhythm and rhyme scheme typical of poetry in her era and how this might be interpreted to fit her themes.
Angelou, Maya "Africa" online at Afropoets [http://www.afropoets.net/mayaangelou21.html] depicts the continent of Africa as a beautiful abused woman who is now fighting back against the colonists. Simple language and imagery conveys a powerful image of the damage European clonisation has done to Africa - first by exoticising her beauty then by plundering her resources. Only now is she discovering her power. Make sure you talk about the reader's disdovery (of Africa's past; of the fact that Africa is a Eurocentric concept because it consists of 54 different countries...) as well as Africa's power to fight back against the invaders. Schmoop [http://www.shmoop.com/after-great-pain-a-formal-feeling-comes/poem-text.html] has a good analysis of this poem.
Francis, Daniel Aloysius. “A Day in the Life” in Unheard Voices: a collection of stories and poems to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. ed. Malorie Blackman. This is a set of two poems, one form the point of view of a slave owner the other from a slave’s viewpoint. Each voice is convinced that their perspective is the right and only way to view the world; by juxtaposing these viewpoints, the poet invites the reader to discover their own truth about slavery. The experience of the slave/slaver on a boat could be contrasted with the discoveries made in Life of Pi, Ariel in The Tempest, or the experiences of participants in Go back to where you came from.
Shelley, Percy. (1817). "Ozymandius" is a sonnet which uses the metaphor of a gigantic statue of an ancient leader to discuss the way all tyrants eventually fall. don't forget the analyse the use fo the sonnet form as well as the metaphor of a leader whose head has falled from his body and is lyign half-covered and forgotten in the sand. It could be linked to any of the set texts but matches particularly well with an analysis of Prospero's role in The Tempest or the way politics function in Life of Pi or The Motorcycle Diaries.It can be found online at Schmoop [http://www.shmoop.com/ozymandias/]
Tanti, Kamal Kumar. "Postcolonial poem". This poem expresses the lost voice of India's past, buried under two centuries of English colonisation. It is interesting to analyse the language and symbolism as both part of this lost history but also as a colonist's description of an "uncivilised" culture which should be destroyed in favour of modernity - one way of reading the poem allows the reader to move seamlessly in and out of these viewpoints, which is of course, part of the experience fo being a modern Indian. It would work well with Life of Pi or a postcolonial reading of Prospero's "civilising" role in the The Tempest. You can read this poem at Cerebration [http://www.cerebration.org/postcolonialpoem.html].