WEEK+7-+Place+and+Displacement

PLACE AND DISPLACEMENT

FOCUS QUESTIONS: This week, students explore their own sense of place and home in greater depth. They also examine texts that explore the importance of place, home and country for Indigenous peoples.
 * What is the significance of place, home and country for Indigenous peoples?
 * What is the relationship of place, community and identity?
 * What similarities and differences exist between different Indigenous understandings of place and home?
 * What is the significance of home for the Indigene after colonization?

An excellent resource for teachers and students is [|Lore of the Land:] Reconciling Spirit and Place in Australia's story.

RESOURCES 1. [|Lore of the Land:] Reconciling Spirit and Place in Australia's story. 2. Australian Screen Education, [|This child, Zita] 3. Oodgeroo Noonuccal's poem, 'The Past', //Inside Black Australia: An Anthology of Aboriginal Poetry.// Ed. Kevin Gilbert.(1988) 4. Jack Davis, 'The First Born', //Inside Black Australia: An Anthology of Aboriginal Poetry.// Ed. Kevin Gilbert.(1988) 5. Nadia Wheatley's and Donna Rawlons' picture book, //My Place//. 6. Oodgeroo Noonuccal's poem, '[|We are going]', //I////nside Black Australia: An Anthology of Aboriginal Poetry.// Ed. Kevin Gilbert.(1988) 7. Oodgeroo Noonuccal's poem, [|'Municipal Gum]', I//nside Black Australia: An Anthology of Aboriginal Poetry.// Ed. Kevin Gilbert.(1988) 8. Rock stays from Kakadu man. 9. Hyllus Maris' [|Spiritual Song of the Aborigine] 10. Oodgeroo Noonuccal's [|Then and Now] 11. Indigenous stories compiled by Nadia Wheatley: //Playground: Listening to stories from country and and from inside the heart.//

ACTIVITIES Students are to form small groups and prepare and present a dramatic recitation of one of the poems above. Students are to focus on emphasising the sounds in the poem as well as convey visually and physically the depiction of place and displacement. Before their performance, students should answer the following questions:
 * What is the poem about?
 * What does the poem make you feel? Think about?
 * What perspectives/ ideas are presented? Do you agree with the perspectives presented in the poem?
 * What are the main feelings/ emotions expressed in the poem? How are these emotions expressed (word choice, sound, imagery...)
 * What images stand out for you?

Students should then 'block' the poem for performance, concentrating on sound, emphasis, pause, pitch, tone and visual aspects such as facial expressions, body language, gestures, movement and proxemics.

View the three clips from [|Beyond Sorry] on the Australian Screen Education website. 1. Compare and contrast Aggie's and Zita's experiences. 2. How does the documentary footage in the first clip emphasise Zita's distance from Aboriginal culture? 3. How does the voiceover of Aggie heighten this distance?