May 14 - 18

Thursday & Friday
1. Quickly complete looking at "IF". Clarify what should be in your Evidence of Learning for "If".
2. Gender, Class, Post-colonial  invited vs oppositional readings.

World-centred readings recognize that a text is a repository for cultural assumptions, values and pre-occupations. A key factor to remember is that the creation of meaning is a two-way process between author and reader. Traditionally, in the days of the Renaissance, the process of making meaning in the text was assumed to begin and end solely with the author. The author was seen to be ultimately in control on of only of the written word but also of the way in which the words were interpreted. While some remnants of this theory remain today, the idea that the author is solely responsible for creating the meaning of a text has long been abandoned. The problem with this assumptions is that it ignores the many complex factors involved in the interpretation of texts, such as the reader's ethnic background, the time or period in which the reader encounters the text and the gender of the reader.

To imply that a universal "meaning" is created by the author becomes problematic when we consider how certain cultural values and attitudes begin and continue to circulate. It ignores the notion of challenging a text - ie. creating a resistant reading. Challenging meanings and creating our own meanings are important parts of the process of text consumption. 
copied from What Does It Mean? by Robinson and Robinson

Wednesday
1. Complete the work on "IF.

"If" also very much belongs to the late Victorian period, an era known for its relative uptightness and conservatism. If you take a look at this site, you can get an idea of what we mean by that. Read more about the Victorian period here and more about Queen Victoria herself right here.

The Victorian period was also the great age of British Imperialism. And by great, we do mean great. By 1900, Great Britain controlled nearly a quarter of the world's land, and governed almost 400 million people (some more strictly than others). Australia, New Zealand, large chunks of Asia (primarily India and Pakistan), and even larger chunks of Africa (Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Kenya, Malawi, and others)—not to mention Canada—were all part of the Empire.

The British saw themselves as partaking in a civilizing mission on the one hand (non-Europeans were less evolved, and couldn't govern themselves, the theory went), but also as improving their own country. British expansion gave the country greater accesses to resources unavailable back home (tea and sugar, for example) and opened up other opportunities (such as trade routes). While we could go on for days about the British Empire, for now you can read more about it here if you like.

So, while the actual setting of Kipling's poem is not well-defined for us, the historical and cultural settings in which "If" appeared are pretty clear: Britain was branching out all over the world, and it took a certain kind of personality to lead that charge. What kind, you might ask? Well, look no further than the instructions provided by the poem itself.

Tuesday
1. What should be in your Evidence of Learning.
2. Shakespeare's sonnet?????
3. World-context-centered reading approach.




Monday
1. Complete looking at new multi-modal poets.
2. Shakespeare's sonnet.
3. World-context-centered reading approach in more depth: gender, post-colonialism, societal inequities.