World literature

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World literature 

The martians claim Canada 

By Margaret Artwood

- World literature reader page 3 -

concept: Others

A short history of Canada

Before the Europeans explored Canada, all of the Canadian regions were occupied by the Natives. They lived off the land, hunted or gathered resources in order to survive. When the Europeans arrived in Canada, lots of Natives died because of the European diseases, which they lacked the immunity for. 

Why do you think most city names in the east of Canada derive from the French language?

Watch the video....

on youtube, then answer the questions here. 

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Match the different names with the correct explanation:

Trois-rivieres 

Quebec city  

Montreal 

Algonquins 

Louisbourg  

Second permanent settlement

Capital of New France

Third official settlement

Indian tribe

Fortified town to defend Saint-Lawrence river

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

French settlers arrived in Canada

British settlers arrived in Canada

France expanding throughout Canada

Treaty of Utrecht

Louisbourgh

Three month siege of Quebec

Treaty of Paris

What is a border?

Borders are geographic boundaries of political entities or legal jurisdictions, such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities.

Borders are established through agreements between political or social entities that control those areas; 

the creation of these agreements is called boundary delimitation.

An example: 

Colonialists drew the national borders between African countries. They just used a ruler to create the countries. Nowadays, this has a huge impact on their culture. 

This is also the case in The United States of America and the division of the states.

This is also the case in The United States of America and the division of their states, as you can see here.

There are 4 ways in which borders come to be. 

1. Nature

2. War and Colonization

3. Treaties and Politics

4. Land reclamation

If you would like to get more information about this, watch this clip: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBEEYRm93Zs 

What is globalisation?

Globalisation is: the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. 

Globalization has accelerated since the 18th century due to advances in transportation and communication technology. This increase in global interactions has caused a growth in international trade and the exchange of ideas, beliefs, and culture.

Globalization is primarily an economic process of interaction and integration that is associated with social and cultural aspects. However, disputes and diplomacy are also large parts of the history of globalization, and of modern globalization.

Example of a border agreement:

Pheasant Island.

For six months a year, Pheasant Island is French; for the other six, it is Spanish and every six months a small ceremony of transfer of sovereignty takes place.

In the Treaty the Bidasoa river, in the last ten kilometers of its course, was placed as a natural border between the two nations, up to the Bay of Biscay.

As almost always happens when a river marks the border, this is placed roughly at the center of the water course. Following this line, the island was ideally divided in half, with France and Spain respectively occupying the portion placed on their side.

The martians claim Canada

You are now going to read the story, answer the questions about the story.

Name 2 of the aspects the mushroom uses to describe countries.

Name 1 example of globalisation that the mushroom uses to describe human interaction

Why does the mushroom compare the colonisers to deadly mushrooms?

What advice does the mushroom give to the Martians on how best to go about creating a story for their musical?

The martians claim Canada 

You have now gained knowledge about Canada and you have read the story about the martian settlers.

Now you will explore the meaning of "others" within this story.

You have now read The Martians Claim Canada, written by Margaret Atwood. Who could be classified as the others in this story?

- Can be seen as “others’

- Have a fresh look on everything going on, on planet earth

- Want to see a “musical”

- Where is always relative. Where in relation to what?

- Destination New-York, end up in Canada

The aliens

- Have a conversation with the mushroom about the state of the world and Canada

- Could be a play on words, alienated: feeling that you have no connection with the people around you or that you are not part of a group.

- Claim Canada in the end even though the mushroom has warned them about alienating others by claiming land

How would you describe the world we live in today to an alien who just landed on planet earth?
Think of three words you would use to describe the world.

The mushroom's Views

- Even among the mushrooms there are lots of different species (the others) with different traits.

- Without people there aren’t any countries

- Customs and languages create differences

- National outfits/anthems

- New people (others) coming in can have devastating effects (plague, flu)

- Original inhabitants are used until they are no longer useful to ‘the other’ then they got pushed off. (learning new inhabitant’s things, helping with chores, helping with wars, etc.)

- Laws created by ‘the others’

- Mushrooms don’t do genders

- Discrimination

- Helps the Martians but gets ignored in the end as the Martians don’t listen to the story of the mushroom but claim Canada

All the others in 

The Martians claim Canada

- The French

- The English

- The original inhabitants

- Borders create ‘others'.

- When borders get crossed, war starts

- Wars are often materialistic because people are jealous of each other’s belongings.

We have now talked a lot about the so called ‘others’ but can you think of something that connects us? 

Fill in the padlet with things that connect us as humans

Padlet: https://padlet.com/fabiennekronenberg/y0int53fsvrpw0eq)

Exercise: design your own alien. 

• Draw your ‘ideal’ alien and give them at least 3-character traits. 
• If you are not a real Picasso, you are also allowed to look up a picture online or to describe your alien. As long as you think of at least 3-character traits and why you chose these 3 traits. 
• We will give you the opportunity to present your masterpieces in the lesson.