The Power of Stories - Module A Narratives That Shape Our World

1. The Power of
Stories
Year 11 Advanced:
Narratives That Shape Our
World

2. Your Thoughts
• Some philosophers claim humans are
“storytelling animals.” Why do you think
this might be? What is important about
storytelling to you in your life?
• What was the last story you read /
watched / listened to that had an impact
on you? Why was this?
• What makes a good story? What are some
elements that make a story / narrative
powerful and memorable?
• In what ways can stories be damaging and
destructive? Can you think of examples in
current events or history that show a
negative side to storytelling?

3. BBC Ideas: How Stories Shape Our Minds

4. Questions
Connect: How does this video
connect to your previous knowledge
about storytelling?
Extend: How does this video extend
your knowledge about storytelling?
Challenge: What challenges or
questions does this video bring up for
you?

5. Grace Lin – “The Windows and Mirrors of
Your Child’s Bookshelf” (TED Talk)

6. Questions
What does Grace Lin mean in
her discussion of some books
serving as mirrors and some
books serving as windows?
1
What stories have served as a
mirror for you? What stories
have served as windows?
2
How does Lin’s TED Talk start to
raise some issues regarding the
relationship between stories
and power in society? How
does this relate to dominant
and oppositional discourses in
society?
3

7. June Jordan – “Poem About My Rights”
Even tonight and I need to take a walk and clear
my head about this poem about why I can’t
go out without changing my clothes my shoes
my body posture my gender identity my age
my status as a woman alone in the evening/
alone on the streets/alone not being the point/
the point being that I can’t do what I want
to do with my own body because I am the wrong
sex the wrong age the wrong skin and
suppose it was not here in the city but down on the
beach/
or far into the woods and I wanted to go
there by myself thinking about God/or thinking
about children or thinking about the world/all of it
disclosed by the stars and the silence:
I could not go and I could not think and I could not
stay there
alone
as I need to be
alone because I can’t do what I want to do with my own
body and
who in the hell set things up
like this

8. Questions
• June Jordan (1936 – 2002) was
a prominent African-American
bisexual poet. How does this
knowledge affect your
understanding of the poem?
• What poetic techniques does
Jordan use to convey her
message about stigmatisation
and alterity? What is their
effect?

9. Gordon
Bennett –
“Untitled
(Dismay,
Displace,
Disperse,
Dispirit,
Display,
Dismiss)”

10. Questions
• The artist Gordon Bennett has said of this work:
“I wish to reinstate a sense of Aboriginal people
within the culturally dominant system of
representation as human beings, rather than a
visual representation that signifies the
‘primitive,’ the ‘noble savage’, or some other
European construct associated with black skin.”
What do you think he means by this statement
and how does it apply to his artwork?
• One could say that Bennett’s work resists the
metanarrative of Australian progress and
democratic enlightenment. What visual
techniques does Bennett use to achieve this?

11. Glossary
• Metanarrative n.
• Marginalisation n. (marginalise v.)
• Alterity n.
• Discourse n. (dominant and
oppositional)
• Stigmatisation n. (stigmatise v.)
• Subjugation n. (subjugate v.)
• Hegemony n. (hegemonic adj.)

12. Writing Activity
• Using an example from at least
TWO of the FOUR texts we
explored today, discuss how
stories shape our understanding of
the world around us. Aim for at
least 7-8 sentences.
• Challenge: Include at least two
glossary terms (from previous
slide) in your response.
• The four texts we looked at were:
• BBC Ideas – How Stories
Shape Our Minds
• Grace Lin – “The Windows
and Mirrors of Your Child’s
Bookshelf” (TED Talk)
• June Jordan – “Poem About
My Rights”
• Gordon Bennett – “Untitled”