POLC 4470 Week 6 Assignment

POLC 4470 Week 6 Assignment | Tulane University

Figuratively, great novels out of Australia come in different shapes and sizes, different forms and contours, different norms and values. Our focus is with Indigenous pathways and their sheer diversity - their ancestral heritage, the languages spoken, the scattered territorial homelands. These represent a natural mingling of diversity in theory ordained by ancient ancestors and traditional custodians of the land.

Alongside a now dwindling Aboriginal population, settler societies generally have thrived and recent migration waves have developed, not always in predictable ways. While many settler were well-intentioned, generous, compassionate, eager to learn from Aboriginal Peoples they encountered, others were not - as we discover from Indigene texts we've read. Settlers, too, came with their own obstacles, psychological and physical, such as those that haunt Jackie in Tim Winton's The Shepherd's Hut.

Let's look at another community that has made its home in Australia, far removed from the arid deserts, the uncontrolled bushfires, and the scarce water sources of Australia. Nordic peoples settled on the continent centuries ago. Not strictly Scandinavian, the Dutch colonized this area of the globe with today's Indonesia being the transfer point to lands further to the south. To be sure, the Vikings around the tenth century may have reached Iceland, Ireland, and the Mediterranean but no further.

Author Kristina Olsson does have a Scandinavian background and she is especially proud of one object that was built with Scandinavian hands: the Sydney Opera House. At the time that it was being constructed, not without multiple obstacles of its own including a time frame that was extended from four to fourteen years, there was a war in Vietnam that Australians were forced to take part in.

American baritone Paul Robeson was the first major artist to perform on the construction site of the Opera House in 1960. Years earlier he had questioned why Blacks should fight in the army of a government that tolerated racism and for this he was stripped of his U.S. passport. He did finally regain it after McCarthyism had run its course. He was an outspoken supporter of the rights of Aboriginal and Māori Peoples and performed for construction workers on the Opera site.

Here's a three-minute excerpt of two songs, "Old Man River" and "Joe Hill" - a Swede, like Kristina Olsson, who was arguably the most iconic figure in the American working class movement. Until he was framed, imprisoned, and executed in Salt Lake City in 1915.

Paul Robeson (Links to an external site.) 

Both struggles involving the controversial opera building and the contentious Vietnam debacle are joined in Olsson's 2018 novel titled simply Shell. Here is her inspiring invitation to read it:

Kristina Olsson (Links to an external site.) 

Let's now connect the Sydney Opera House with Australian Indigenous art. First is a 2017 exhibit and musical score that was reflected off the sails of the Opera House. 

Indigenous Art Reflecting off the Opera House (Links to an external site.) 

Next, coming up this month, here is the promo for Wonder Women that opens this April 23. Please scroll down and check out this very informative text.

Lighting of the sails 2021 (Links to an external site.)

Finally this is optional viewing - unless you're a fan of virtuosic Australian guitarist John Butler and his backup band. I was in the crowd at his concert on the Forecourt of the Opera House in 2019. No Paul Robeson to be sure, but his was an amazing ten-minute riff on "Ocean" all the same.

John Butler Trio (Links to an external site.) 

Objectives

After this unit you should be able to:

• Explain the complexities - architectural, financial, personality conflicts - of building a monument of worldwide renown.

• Debate the Australian decision to support the United States in the Vietnam War.

• Appreciate Indigene art even more.

• When all is said and done, your Assignment 6 involves reading and interpreting Olsson's book, though perhaps commenting on some of our other links can be useful:

1) Select some of your favorite citations from Shell. You can "let the text speak for itself" covering representative parts of the whole book, not limited to just fragments of one section.

If you wish, discuss symbolism, analogies, metaphors that may apply to the novel. Be ingenious, creative, contrarian, challenging convention--this is what the course is all about.

You have two weeks to submit the final paper due on Sunday, April 18  by 8pm.

As the syllabus highlights, any honest and original attempt to answer the assignment clearly based on reading the novel earns full credit.

 Expand AllPanels Collapse AllPanels

Submission Instructions

To submit your unit assignment, click the "Submit Assignment" button and upload your document as a .doc, .docx, or .pdf file.

Grading and Evaluation

See the rubric below for details. Be sure to read my Assignment Comment once your assignment is graded--reply in an Assignment Comment if you have any questions!