Can+You+Hear+The+Nightbird+Cry?

The text that I have chosen for my novel study is // Can You Hear The Nightbird Call? //by Anita Rau Badami, a novel about three women linked and impacted by the political and social mayhem that swept across Punjab, India. The novel is set both in India and Canada and links together the past to the present, as well as the East to the West. Through the span of fifty years, this novel describes, as a backdrop the tragic events of the Partition between India and Pakistan and the Air India Flight 182 explosion and how these events affected three women and their families in India and Vancouver, Canada. Sharanjeet Kaur, later named Bibi-ji is first introduced as a beautiful and ambitious woman who married Papa-ji, a Sikh Businessman and left her family in India to move to Vancouver, Canada, where she and her husband immersed themselves in the Indian community. Amongst this community is Leela Bhat a half-German half –Bengali woman who must assimilate into the Indo-Canadian culture. Finally, we read the most tragic story of the fearful Nimmo, Bibi-ji’s niece who is forever tormented by her cruel past. India’s violent and chaotic political past is depicted within this novel and put into a personal content through these women and their families. The reader sees how the events within one country substantially affects those living across the world and the division and resent it causes a once close community of Indio-Canadians into those defined by their political and cultural views. Written by an Indo-Canadian woman, the reader is able to get a personal and emotional view of the events in India that greatly affected the Indians residing in Canada. I personally feel that as not only an Indo-Canadian but simply as the child of the Indian Diaspora in Canada, I am able to relate and engage myself with the three women and their personal battles through the political turmoil of India and the notion of assimilation. This novel not only provides the historical background of one of the largest displacements of people in the twentieth century (the Partition of Indian in 1947) and the controversial explosion of the Air India Flight 182, but also the personal struggle of the Indian Diaspora; which overall may be similarly seen through other diasporic cultures in Canada. It connects the social issues of the Indo-Canadians in Vancouver to those in India and I believe that as a teacher we have the opportunity, working in a multicultural society, to teach and provide the students to think critically about Diaspora and the relationship between different cultures. I would teach this text as part of a Grade 12 university and college English course. This novel discusses many political and social issues that many grade 11 and grade 12 students would be familiar in, for example the notion of assimilation. By grade 11, most history courses have very briefly examined the Partition of India in 1947 and in Grade 12 I believe students are mature enough to read on the trauma and violence of such an historical event. I state this novel can be used in both university and college courses because the novel describes information that is applicable and understandable at an easier reading level but still encompasses theories that can be critically analyzed. Using this novel for a Challenge and Change course in the Social Sciences curriculum would also be appropriate as it allows students to analyze social and cultural patterns in society around the world and how this pattern changes over time. This text highlights many social and political issues of India’s past and how it directly affects those in another country. It emphasizes the issue of cultural and racial discrimination as well as the historical events that are rarely taught in the curriculum. This novel provides the readers with the personal and emotional stories of three women who overcome many social and personal obstacles, for instance losing loved ones through violent acts and integrating within a community; these obstacles are fairly universal that many teenagers/students might be overcoming. Literature has the ability to offer a sense of solace by allowing the student to find their own story within the text. The subject of Diaspora is a crucial subject to educate students in, especially those intending on furthering their studies in University, as it is a new topic being discovered and taught. The mere fact that this text was written by an Indo-Canadian and describes the struggles of a Diaspora in Canada offers the students to research more about different Diasporas in Canada as well as the history of the Partition of India. The textual knowledge that would be emphasized when teaching this novel is how an actual historical event can be described through a fictional tale and provides a more personal experience of it, as many of the historical texts of the Partition are mostly facts. It is important for a student to have a motive in learning something new and by adding a personal experience or relation to the topic provides this. Students will be able to appreciate the impact a novel or any form of literature has. The social knowledge that will be emphasized is the concept of race and immigration as well as the concept of assimilation within Canada. The perception of women and their roles in historical events is also important to emphasize as this is rarely ever written about. Culturally, this text emphasizes the change in Canada’s immigration pattern as well as how one culture may have similarities to another in terms of immigration, assimilation and the need to belong, and the notion of connecting one’s home country to their host country or displacement. Finally, the topic of other countries and their political/social histories are emphasized as this subject is not significantly touched upon in the curriculum. This novel broadens the students’ knowledge of the multicultural society we live in and its relationship to the East and it creates a sense of awareness of other cultures and their issues/conquers. Some of the issues and challenges that I may encounter in teaching this text is the controversial topic of the politics of India and Pakistan, especially with the parents who are from these countries. Although the text itself does not emphasize any assumptions or biases, many students may hold their own and may assert them through class discussions. This may cause several issues such as exclusiveness and judgments. Before teaching this novel I believe it is crucial for the teacher to briefly describe the on-going tensions between India and Pakistan, the history of the Partition as well the impact it had on Canada during that time. I believe if the class is comfortable enough with each other this novel will succeed in being taught and critically analyzed. An activity that I would definitely use when teaching the text is a journal reflection. I believe using this activity with this novel allows students to reflect on their knowledge of the Diasporic individual and their struggles to overcome displacement and disconnection from their home country and their host country. Another assignment that I would have the students conduct is a research essay on the topic of history and how it is written, as well as who writes these histories and the implications this may cause, using the novel as a source. This connects to the reading for meaning curriculum expectation as well as the developing and organizing content through writing. By: Navjeet Rai 207782501