Identity and cultural diversity
Global Education
an understanding of self and one’s own culture, and being open to the cultures of
others
Identity and Cultural Diversity
A reading of the rubric
English not social studies
Babakiuaria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7QGPXEycNQ
Selfie
identity
The Identity Problem
What is it?
Personal identity - conception and expression of one’s individuality –
a modern concept only
Group/ collective identity (sense of belonging)
Cultural identity
Etymology
Latin
17th Century
Current popular view
Idem
identity
identity
the same
Quality of being
identical
One’s true/ authentic self/
an individual.
Fragmented Self
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tantonr/69361
29763/
Identity as cultural supermarket
http://menzelphoto.photoshelter.com/galleryimage/Namibia/G0000TEmedryojCg/I0000yHeW.q
SAFKo/C0000V2mTAkuxmWo
Global film unit
Post
colonialism
Globalisation
Global
cinema
Media studies
Cultural
studies
Theoretical perspectives
Orientalism (Said
“When a human being confronts at close quarters
something relatively unknown and threatening and
previously distant … one ha recourse to what in
ones experience the novelty resembles but also to
what one has read about it.”
•
Media studies(Mc Luhan)
“Global village”
Frederic Jameson and globalisation
In discussions of globalization at the political level, one
question has predominated: that of the nation-state. Is it
over and done with, or does it still have a vital role to
play?
The standardization of world culture, with local popular or
traditional forms driven out or dumbed down to make
way for American television, American music, food,
clothes and films, has been seen by many as the very
heart of globalization.
‘natural’ resistance of an Indian or an Arab public, for
example, to certain kinds of Hollywood fare.
http://newleftreview.org/II/4/fredric-jameson-globalization-and-political-strategy
Cultural hybridity
Cultural hybridity has been a term to describe
societies that emerge from cultural contacts of
European "explorers" and those "explored". Instead
of explaining these contacts as mere imposures of
a major culture onto a minor culture, hybridity
emphazises their mutual intermingling. According to
Roland Barthes a "third language" evolves that is
neither the one nor the other
http://www2.hu-berlin.de/amerika/asc/multiplecultures/mc_abstrax_raetzsch.htm
Stage 4 Outcomes 1,3,5
Outcome 1
interpret the stated and implied meanings in spoken
texts, and use evidence to support or challenge
different perspectives
understand, interpret and discuss how language is
compressed to produce a dramatic effect in film
Outcome 3
explore texts that include both Standard English and
elements of other langauges
Outcome 5
explore the ways individual interpretations of texts are
influenced by students' own knowledge, Values and
cultural assumptions
Stage 4 Outcome 8
consider the ways culture and personal experience position
readers and viewers and influence responses to and
composition of texts
identify and explain Cultural expression in texts …
investigate texts about cultural experiences from different
sources, eg texts from Asia and texts by Asian Australians,
and explore different viewpoints
respond to and compose texts in a range of different modes
and media recognising and appreciating cultural factors,
including cultural background and perspectives
recognise and explain differing viewpoints about the world,
cultures, individual people and concerns represented in texts
Key Questions
Why is global film so important?
Is global film about difference or
similarity?
Is the impact of the visual so powerful
that it transcends cultures?
Possible concepts to lead unit design
Perspectives
Representations
Identity
Communication
Visual literacy
Voices
cultural expression
Intercultural understanding
Assessment
Write a reflection on the importance of watching global
film
OR
Extended essay: respond to this statement using the
films studied in class
Global films are a window into other worlds. Do you agree?
OR
Global films show us that we are living in a global village.
Do you agree?
In your answer you need to refer to how the films studied in
class position you to your point of view
Sample
activities:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/
5c/The_Way_Home_film.jpg
1. Exploring
assumptions
What does the
film cover imply
the film is
about?
2. How does the English title The
Way Home change your
expectations of the film?
The Way Home: trailers
How does each trailer position the audience?
Trailers in English
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHZHdgXIl2E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x36wqfOh7tE
Trailer in Korean
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kitpGdUB_-c
Other activities
Research Korean youth and technology addiction and
consider what the purpose of this film may have been.
Look for oppositions in ideas and in film techniques eg
dark- light; traditional – modern
Follow motifs such as the road
Consider the importance of silence and music in the
film
Explore characterisation
Stimulated by the Organisers
 Year 8
 Explore the ways that ideas
and viewpoints in literary texts
drawn from different historical,
social and cultural contexts
may reflect or challenge the
values of individuals and
groups (ACELT1626)
 Explore the
interconnectedness of
Country and Place, People,
Identity and Culture in texts
including those by Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander
authors (ACELT1806)
 http://www.flickr.com/pho
tos/tantonr/6936129763/
Texts that offer Rich Learning
The Interrogation Of Ashala Wolf
Written by Ambelin Kwaymullina, published July 2012 with the
sequel released in Nov, 2013.
Highly engaging intercultural romantic, psychological thriller that is
both dystopian and ecotopian whilst exploring Kwaymullina’s
indigenous heritage.
The setting: in a post- cataclysmic world where civilisation has
been devastated by an environmental catastrophe called The
Reckoning that happened 300 years prior.
The new world that emerges is devoid of war, poverty and hunger.
There are people with strange abilities – Firestarters, Rumblers
and Sleepwalkers .
The Government, is greatly concerned about these ‘gifted’
individuals and great energy is committed to keeping the Balance,
against these people frighteningly labelled “Illegals”.
Working with the Conceptual Framework
 How does it fit?
 Perspective- Indigenous
cultural perspective
delivered in a powerfully
engaging way.
 Examination of the writer’s
craft to offer us a fresh
Indigenous cultural
perspective that invites us
to reconsider the
significance of
Kwaymullina’s indigenous
heritage.
 http://www.flickr.com/pho
tos/tantonr/6936129763/
As Dystopian and Ecotopian Fiction
Keith M. Booker, dystopian literature is used to
"provide fresh perspectives on problematic social
and political practices that might otherwise be taken
for granted or considered natural and inevitable".
Danny Bloom coined the term "cli fi" in 2006
Indigenous Perspectives and Allusions
Spiritual wisdom
Powerful connection to the land- her ‘Tuart forest’
Indigenous Australian idea of learning from and
spiritual connection with Elders.
The Dreaming figure of the Serpent.
Importance of tribal ritual and practices. “ Dad didn’t
fish anymore. He drank instead”.
Introduction to the Text.
Ambelin is a successful lawyer, lecturer and illustrator.
Daughter of Sally Morgan- My Place.
‘The Tribe’ series is designed to entertain and provoke
discussion about ‘the nature of human societies and
the world”- the potential for human societies to destroy
themselves.
Positions us to give value to Indigenous attitudes and
concerns.
The materialistic and hi-tech world of Neville Rose
offers nothing but further marginalisation and
intimidation for the indigenous- the style is fraught with
anxiety when comparing experience to reality.
Racism linked to death of the Species
 “Before the Reckoning?
There weren’t any Illegals
back then. There were
different peoples, though,
different ”races”. Ember
had told me about it, once
– how things like my skin
not being the same colour
as hers, or the way Pen’s
eyes were almond shaped,
used to mean something.
After the end of the old
world, when there were so
few humans left, everyone
stopped worrying about
things like that.”
 http://www.alternet.org/fil
es/story_images/racism.j
pg
Ecotopian Concerns Position us to Re-evaluate
the Indigenous Perspective
 “I mean, everyone knew
the dangers of advanced
tech. It had isolated the
people of the old world
from nature, shielding
them from the
consequences of
imbalance, and yet
they’d believed, right up
until the very end, that it
would save them.”
 http://www.ournakedaust
ralia.com.au/experiencevalley-of-thegiants/valley-of-thegiants-2013-02-15-010/
Voice of the Serpent
“My kind took many forms, granddaughter. He sighed
deeply and that sigh seemed to flow out of him
through the Firstwood, stirring the leaves in the trees.
When the great chaos began, I was sleeping deep in
underground water. My resting place broke apart and I
was cast out into the end of everything. I journeyed for
a long time, gathering all the scraps of life that I could
find. I brought them here. Then I sang, reminding life
of its shapes, strength, and its many transformations. I
am one of the old spirits of the Earth granddaughter…I
live in all worlds, and in the spaces between them’.
The Connection to Land
 Through incongruity “I was back in the tree holding




on tight to the tuart and
looking out to where the
distant dog beast was
squatting on his haunches.’
‘Towering tuarts’.
Cleansing water imagery.
‘I’d always loved the way the
lake was so unfathomably
deep and mysterious. ‘
‘…the blue water lit with
dazzling light where the sun
hit it, and coloured with purple
shadows where it was shaded
by the overhanging trees.’
Connection between Self and Story
 ‘Ember says everyone has
a tale they tell themselves
about who they are. And , if
your tale is true, then you
see yourself clearly, like
looking into still water. But
if it’s not , then it’s more like
the waters all rippled, so
you can’t see yourself at
all.’
 Integrity of the Narrative ---
as a way to understand the
self
Providing Invigorating Learning
Opportunities.
‘Create Driving Questions’- allows for student
choice and voice
Consider using Edmodo to create small groups for
the students that document the collaborative online
process. Students can do peer or self evaluation of
their involvement in this process.
Create group notes based on individual exploration
of the text and collaborative discussion. Each
student then takes the driving question and fleshes
out a response.