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Thread: REQUEST FOR HELP: Colonialist Literature

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    REQUEST FOR HELP: Colonialist Literature

    I'm going to school to be a a high school English teacher. In one of my current classes, we (it is a group project) have to construct a full, detailed unit of instruction. We decided to do ours on Colonialism (for a senior lit class). Our main piece of literature we will be using is Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. But we need some other literature to supplement this, especially literature that portrays colonialism in a positive light since the final project will be a persuasive essay arguing for or against colonialism. We're looking mostly for short stories and poetry, but if there is a novel (a positive colonialist novel) that you feel must be included, we will look into it.

    Thanks a lot for the help I know this awesome forum will provide!

    (P.S. I didn't put this in the teaching section because I want it to get as much exposure as possible.)

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    Neo-Scriblerus Modest Proposal's Avatar
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    Some people argue that some of Kipling's work defends colonialism, though the majority I would say does not, and I he wrote some great short stories and poetry.

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    Colonialism is an awfully general subject. It needs to be narrowed down. Narrow it down to a specific location; for example, Chinese colonialism, or British colonialism, or even American colonialism. You cannot possibly cover colonialism in one unit of instruction.

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    We're just introducing colonialism, not teaching a class on it. You could say that about any unit.

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    You're still going to have to narrow it down to give specific examples. You can't just say this: "Colonialism was bad--or good--because it blah blah blah." You're going to have to be specific about it; you're going to have to give examples. What examples will you choose to empasize? It's not going to work to just give out general statements about colonialism. You're going to have to define it, give specific examples of it, give specific effects of it, etc. It will not work to make general statements such as this: "Colonialism was bad because it exploited the native population of a certain area." That is too general. You're going to have to be specific--even in an introductory course.

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    Dance Magic Dance OrphanPip's Avatar
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    Um, Aphra Behn's Oroonoko is a pretty big one, and a short novel at that.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oroonoko

    It's not pro-colonialism, but it would probably fall into that genre of "noble savage" colonial literature. It centers around an African prince being taken as a slave to Surinam and leading a failed slave revolt. It is also a prominent example of an early English novel.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jermac View Post
    You're still going to have to narrow it down to give specific examples. You can't just say this: "Colonialism was bad--or good--because it blah blah blah." You're going to have to be specific about it; you're going to have to give examples. What examples will you choose to empasize? It's not going to work to just give out general statements about colonialism. You're going to have to define it, give specific examples of it, give specific effects of it, etc. It will not work to make general statements such as this: "Colonialism was bad because it exploited the native population of a certain area." That is too general. You're going to have to be specific--even in an introductory course.


    We aren't going to just throw out general statements. We are going to present several different view points through different pieces of literature, if we can find them. We aren't going to tell them if it's good or bad, we let them argue a side in their papers. An estimate for the length of this unit will be about 6 weeks.

    And thanks to those who made suggestions.
    Last edited by Mutatis-Mutandis; 02-05-2010 at 03:17 PM.

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    You could always use some John Smith or William Bradford.

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    Thanks. I'll check them out.

    I know there has to be some more, and I know with the amount of knowledge the members of these boards have, there has to be some more ideas.

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    The Tempest - Shakespeare
    Robinson Crusoe - Defoe

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    Voice of Chaos & Anarchy
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    The fun thing about concepts like colonialism is that they can be applied to anything, so you can just take anything at all and tell how it illustrates colonialism. Alice in Wonderland would work just fine.

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    seasonably mediocre Il Penseroso's Avatar
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    Is it really appropriate to give them such a loaded question as "Has colonialism been good or bad?"?
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    Interesting idea, PeterL. May have to look into that one.

    And, Il Penseroso, this is for seniors, not freshman, even though I don't think it would be too much of a loaded question for even them. I think we condescend to students way too much; in my opinion, not exposing students to ideas that have the possibility to question what they know, how they view the world, would ultimately be a disservice.

    Now, if you just mean is the question "Is colonialism good or bad?" too vague, than yes, of course it is. I'm not going to hand out an assignment sheet to students, and that's all it says. It will be more like, "In your opinion, does colonialism produce more positive effects or more negative effects on the native land that is effected?" That is the roughest of rough drafts, and even that doesn't sound quite right. Plus, there would be guidance questions for them, as in what they should be thinking about when crafting their paper.
    Last edited by Mutatis-Mutandis; 02-07-2010 at 05:11 PM. Reason: Spelling/grammar.

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    seasonably mediocre Il Penseroso's Avatar
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    What I meant by "loaded question" was can you support an argument for colonialism that matches those against it, put forth by intellectuals (such as Achebe, Cesaire, etc.) who argued its inhumanity? The argument is lopsided; those in favor of colonialism are the human factor and barbarity of most colonizers' attitudes toward "inferior" races. Even for seniors, I don't think this is a positive approach to teaching the material. It seems to me you're having your students argue in favor of racism.

    I am an educator in training like yourself, and in just over a month will be teaching a senior-level class on genocide. I would never intimate to students that the conduct of the nations under study was defensible. I hope to give assignments that ask them to understand the perspective of Nazi Germany, the Soviets under Stalin, and so on, but I would not ask them to try to persuade in favor of these brutal regimes.
    and somehow a dog
    has taken itself & its tail considerably away
    into the mountains or sea or sky, leaving
    behind: me, wag.
    - John Berryman

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    there is plenty of colonial literature that extolls the virtues of imperialism (one thinks of Kipling, Rider Haggard, etc) .. and in that sense they are 'positive', but only because they are written in the colonial era and from the colonialist perspective - however, it would be very difficult to read these texts today as a positive advert for colonialism and i would be very worried if you have any students arguing 'for' colonialism!
    When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro

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