Researching the marginalised.
Mrs Lunn, History Department, here describes the recent work of Upper IV Aleph:
‘Before embarking on their GCSE courses after half-term, Upper IV Aleph have spent their last History lessons focusing on personal histories of colonial troops who fought for Britain during The First World War. Students were inspired by the Imperial War Museum’s study ‘Whose Remembrance’ that sought to investigate the state of research into, and representation of, the experiences of the peoples of Britain’s former empire in the two world wars, and its availability to a wide variety of audiences.
The IMW’s focus was the stories of those people who, through racial prejudice or lack of interest from institutions and historians, had been marginalised from an accurate, integrated representation of the two world wars. Upper IV sought to redress this and selected a topic of interest to research. Topics included, China and the Great War, race, racism and military strategy, Africa and the First World War, and India, including a focus on individuals such as VC recipient Darwan Singh Negi.
I was impressed by the mature approach Upper IV took to their projects and was delighted to see them present their findings in a variety of different ways. Some chose to film their reports whilst others produced a website or teaching materials that can be used for others. I want to thank Upper IV Aleph for all their hard work in History this year, it has been a pleasure to teach them.’
Categories: Senior Whole School
