An interdisciplinary project on the post-colonial novel Remembering Babylon

Abstract

My objective of this thesis is to do a scrutiny of the post-colonial novel Remembering Babylon and investigate in which ways the novel could form the basis of an interdisciplinary project on British colonialism in the two subjects English and history at upper secondary school, VG2. Embedded in the layers of history and emerging as a major theme in Remembering Babylon is the sense of identity. Central to how we relate and understand the colonial experience of the characters in the novel this theme will be explored in depth and will function as a connective thread throughout my thesis. Remembering Babylon takes a view of Australia`s colonial past, vividly portrayed through a group of British settlers` first meeting with the vast country and its Aboriginal history. The story revolves around Gemmy, the half British, half Aboriginal boy, who has lived half his life growing up as a street boy in the British Isles and the other half living among an Aboriginal tribe in Australia`s outback. Through engaging in an in-depth analysis of this engrossing novel, my thesis will serve as an arena in which I aim to explore different methods of teaching the novel. As basis for my analysis, I will investigate the field of post-colonial theory and important key-concepts such as identity, colonial identity, hybridity, language, place and displacement, ambivalence and other(-ing). An insight into Australia`s colonial past proves additionally essential as concerns our understanding of the novel and is on that basis provided a separate chapter of scrutiny and discussion. My aim of combining my two fields of competence; English and history, in an interdisciplinary project, is to add an inspiring dimension to the teaching of both subjects.