HOW CAN WE TEACH POSTCOLONIAL THEORY Empowering students

HOW CAN WE TEACH POSTCOLONIAL THEORY? Empowering students to reflect upon their own cultural knowledge as they build interpretations of literature

USING ALIENS Sci-fi perpetuates the ideologies of colonization, imperialism, and reverse colonization. Luring students in using a destigmatized and interesting subject, aliens, is likely to keep students engaged and activate prior knowledge. https: //youtu. be/x. Iaj. OQVafig

USING ALIENS After showing the movie trailer, I would ask the students who they think has power in the situation. We can discuss power and the representations of an “us vs. them” mentality. What does it mean to have power? How do you act when you have power? What happens when that power is threatened? How would you contain the threat of an alien takeover? We would then relate the students’ own personal and cultural connections to colonialism, imperialism, and oppression and use the handout to guide our understanding.

USING ALIENS From that basic understanding of oppression, we could further develop character archetypes in sci-fi literature: the hero, the brute, the Other, and the sympathizer. Recommended texts: “Vaster than Empires and More Slow” Ursula Le. Guin (advanced) Ender’s Game Orson Scott Card The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury (available original radio broadcast) “From Beyond” H. P. Lovecraft http: //www. hplovecraft. com/writings/texts/fiction/fb. aspx

USING ALIENS Once the students have a strong understanding of postolonialism, have them write a critic of a science fiction story using the terminology from the unit. https: //www. theatlantic. com/entertainment/archive/2014/04/why-sci-fi-keepsimagining-the-enslavement-of-white-people/361173/