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Unit Plan Presentation. Alana Starr and Wendy Gervais Nov. 30, 2013. Purpose. The intent of this unit plan is to introduce some of the key literary terms found in postcolonial literary theory using Tomson Highway’s picture book Caribou Song (2001).
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Unit Plan Presentation Alana Starr and Wendy Gervais Nov. 30, 2013
Purpose • The intent of this unit plan is to introduce some of the key literary terms found in postcolonial literary theory using Tomson Highway’s picture book Caribou Song (2001). • By focusing on Indigenous authored children’s literature, educators and students will begin to develop their understanding of the importance of Indigenous textuality. This unit plan serves as a template for incorporating more Indigenous authored children’s literature by focusing on Indigenous ways of knowing and bringing it into the classroom.
Background Information • Postcolonial literary theory is a fairly new concept for educators and this concept incorporates new terminology and new ideas. • The following PCLT terms is what this unit plan focuses on: • Communitism • Positive Identity Formation • Cultural Forms • Interpolation • Indigenous Ways of Knowing
What is PCLT? • Postcolonial literary theory serves as a way for Indigenous authors to write back to the dominant culture about their own ways of constructing knowledge by incorporating the teachings of their elders and their grandparents into the texts they produce. • Bradford (2007) states “in the field of children’s literature, one of the most important consequences is that Indigenous children rarely encounter texts produced within their own cultures, so the representations of Indigeneity are filtered through the perspectives of white culture” (p. 10).
What is Communitism? • The concept of communitism can be defined as a term that blends “community” and “activism” that provides a proactive commitment to Indigenous communities and is concerned with preserving cultural endurance (Bradford, 2007, p. 56). • “[Indigenous] writers produce texts…to and for [Indigenous] people and engage in strategies of remembering and of promoting ways of surviving and persisting as a community” (Bradford, 2007, p. 56).
What is Positive Identity Formation? • “texts…which represent the identity formation of Indigenous children living in contemporary settings, offer a crucial corrective to the many texts by non-Indigenous authors and illustrators that persist in treating Indigenous cultures locked into ancient and unchanging modes of thought and behavior, or that depict adolescents within the shallow paradigms characteristic of “problem” or “issues” novels” (Bradford, 2007, p. 48-49).
What is Cultural Forms? • Cultural forms are those symbols and social structures that express culture, such as those found in music, dress, food, religion, dance, and education, which have developed from the efforts or groups to shape their lives out of their surrounding material and political environment. Television, video, films are regarding as cultural forms. Schooling is also a cultural form (McLaren, 2009, p. 66).
What is Interpolation? • Aschroft (as cited in Bradford, 2007) describes interpolation as a way in which Indigenous subjects exercise agency in textual production by interposing, intervening, and interjecting a wide range of counter-discursive tactics into the dominant discourse (p. 54).
What is Indigenous Ways of Knowing? • “Indigenous textuality advocates a worldview where humans and spirits do not inhabit separate domains” (Bradford, 2007, p. 130). • “The “I” of the self is incorporated into the “we” of the group through the person’s experiences of the land and through the socializing processes by which learners are inducted into their cultures” (Bradford, 2007, p. 135).
Lesson 1 • In this lesson, we introduce students to the concept of Post-Colonial Literary Theory through open-ended discussion and who author Tomson Highway is and how he uses his story Caribou Song to demonstrate Indigenous culture in a positive light. • We also introduce the term “communitism” and how author Tomson Highway employs this counter-discursive tactic through his story book “Caribou Song”.
Lesson 2 • In this lesson we introduce students to the concept of Positive Identity Formation through the children’s book “Caribou Song” by employing discussion amongst students.
Lesson 3 • In this lesson we introduce the concept of Cultural Forms to the students by focusing on the cultural forms that author Tomson Highway has included in his children’s book Caribou Song.
Lesson 4 • In this lesson we wanted to focus on the dual languages present in Caribou Song and how this relates to the concept of Interpolation. Not only is this a dual language published text but author Tomson Highway also interjects Cree words into the English version. This lesson is meant to focus on the power and differences of languages. Joe played the accordion, the kitoochigan. From morning to night he played and sang, “Ateek, ateek! Astum, astum! Yo-ah, ho-ho! Caribou, caribou! Come, come! Yo-ah, ho-ho!”
Lesson 5 • In this lesson we focused on how Indigenous Ways of Knowing are incorporated into the storybook Caribou Song. • This is done when focalizing characters Cody and Joe hear the Caribou Spirit calling their names. This highlights a different way of knowing the world around you from an Indigenous perspective.
Lesson 6 • In this lesson we wanted students to apply the concepts of PCLT that we focused on as a class in a poster presentation for assessment purposes.
