„Indianerprojekt“ im Englischunterricht

INDIANERPROJEKT
„Indianerprojekt“ im Englischunterricht
Die Idee zu diesem Projekt geht ursprünglich auf
Reisen in den Westen der USA zurück. Beim Besuch von Reservaten, Ausgrabungen, Ausstellungen und durch sonstige Kontakte mit der indianischen Bevölkerung haben sich dabei im Wesentlichen zwei Gefühle herauskristallisiert: Einerseits war
es Faszination, die durch diese frühen Hochkulturen auch im modernen Menschen entsteht. Andererseits – und diese Gefühl überwog bei weitem –
entsetzte und schockierte uns, wie wenig den Ureinwohnern davon geblieben ist, sei es nun bei
Kunsthandwerk oder Brauchtum, die zu Touristenattraktionen verkommen sind, oder vor allem in Bereichen wie Bürgerrechte, Landbesitz, Wohnkultur,
Ausbildung, Arbeitsplatzsituation und anderes
mehr. Also haben wir reichlich Material gesammelt
und dieses in mehreren Arbeitssitzungen zu einem
möglichst abwechslungsreichen Programm gestaltet, das ungefähr 6 Unterrichtsstunden füllt.
(besonders zu empfehlen die Karte „Guide to Indian
Country“ des Amerikanischen Automobilklubs
AAA), Bildern und Postern, Bildbänden, Büchern
und Texten aus verschiedenen Magazinen wie z.B.
National Geographic Juni 1994 „Powwow“, Mai
1995, „The Cherokee“ und April 1996 „The Anasazi“ sowie GEO Special „USA Southwest“ und
Merian „USA: Der Südwesten“, außerdem einem
Korb mit Gemüse und sonstigen Lebens- und Heilmitteln indianischen Ursprungs. Ebenso wichtig ist
die passende akustische Untermalung. Ethnische
Musik vom Norden bis in den Süden Amerikas ist
derzeit auch in Österreich gefragt und somit relativ
leicht erhältlich (z.B. DC 881532 „eye of the sun –
The Heart and Soul of the Native Americans“).
Vorbereitung
The Hollywood Cliché
Das Grundkonzept sieht vor, dass am Projekttag nicht nur die ohnehin überbetonte linke Gehirnhälfte genützt, sondern auch die kreative Ader in
unseren Schülern angeregt wird. Außerdem war es
uns ein Anliegen, so viele Sinne wie möglich einzubinden und damit den unterschiedlichen Lerntypen
gerecht zu werden.
In Phase 2 sollen Klischeevorstellungen, die die
Schüler aus der „Winnetou-“ und sonstigen
„Westernphase“ ihrer Jugend mitbringen, bewusst
gemacht werden. Zu diesem Zweck zeigen wir kurze
Ausschnitte aus bekannten Filmen (z.B. Schlacht
in „Little Big Man“ mit Dustin Hoffman oder die
heimtückische Ermordung des Scouts, der Kevin
Costner in seinem Film „Der mit dem Wolf tanzt“
zum Außenposten im Wilden Westen bringt). In
einem Brainstorming listen die Schüler dann auf,
wie der typische Indianer von Hollywood porträtiert wurde. Die Ideen, die dabei an die Tafel geschrieben werden, umfassen natürlich Eigenschaften wie „cruel“, „malicious“, „not to be trusted“, ...
auf der einen Seite und „a loyal friend“, „heroic“,
„brave“..., wenn Winnetou als Vorbild gedient hat.
Wesentlich für den Erfolg ist sicherlich auch,
von Anfang an das passende Ambiente zu schaffen
und die richtige Stimmung zu erzeugen (Phase 1):
Die Dekoration des Projektraumes erfolgt mit indianischen Kunstgegenständen wie Silberschmuck,
Kachinas, kleinen Töpfereiartikeln, Federn usw.,
Bannern („Indian Reservation“, „The First Face of
America“, „The Vanishing Man“ ...), Landkarten
Den olfaktorischen und gustativen Sinn haben
wir schließlich mit einer einfachen, aber nahrhaften indianischen Mahlzeit angesprochen.
Their Background
Phase 3 beschäftigt sich mit dem historischen Hintergrund. Das wichtigste Hilfsmittel in diesem Abschnitt ist eine 15-minütige Tonbanddokumentation
des Medienzentrums des BMUK mit dem Titel „The
American Indians, Their Background“. Dabei werden
die frühe Besiedelung, die Vielfalt der Sprachen und
Dialekte, die ursprüngliche Lebensweise in verschiedenen Regionen der USA, die Lebensphilosophie und
deren Aufnahme in Europa erklärt. Außerdem enthält
die Kassette Hinweise auf typisch indianische Pro-
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INDIANERPROJEKT
vorher im Unterricht verschiedene Texte zur aktuellen Lage der Indianer (ein Beispiel im Anhang) aus
aktuellen Zeitungen und Zeitschriften gelesen und
bearbeitet haben. Die Resultate ihrer Forschung
werden jetzt in Gruppen präsentiert und von den
jeweiligen Zuhörern, die selbst andere Informationen hatten, in eine Stimmungsskala („Signs of Hope
and Despair“) eingetragen.
dukte (wie verschiedene Mais- und Kartoffelsorten,
Kaugummi, Chinin, Kokain, ...) sowie geographische
Namen indianischen Ursprungs im modernen Amerika. Aufgabe der Schüler ist es dabei, sich auf einem
Arbeitsblatt („The Vanishing Man“, Vorlage im Anhang) Notizen zu insgesamt 10 Punkten zu machen.
Diese Phase schließt ab mit einem kurzen Videoclip aus America Today Highlights (Nr. 4 des Schuljahres 1994/95), in dem darüber spekuliert wird,
was die Anasazi dazu veranlasst haben mag, ihre
Cliff Dwellings (z.B. Mesa Verde) aufzugeben.
Fight for Survival
Phase 4 zeigt den Überlebenskampf der amerikanischen Ureinwohner. In der Erstfassung des Projekts bot sich dabei eine (deutsche) Fernsehdokumentation aus den frühen neunziger Jahren an, die
den „Gedenkritt für Wounded Knee“ und die damit
verbundene Ideologie („Ceremony of Wiping the
Tears“) erklärt. Originale Schwarzweißaufnahmen
des dortigen Massakers leiten den Abschnitt ein.
Es folgt ein Text mit dem Augenzeugenbericht eines Kampfteilnehmers, der aufzeigt, wie unfair die
US-Armee am Wounded Knee Creek die Niederlage von Little Big Hoorn gerächt hat (Text abgedruckt in „Language and Politics“). Den Abschluss
bildet eine längere Passage aus der bereits genannten Dokumentation zum „March of Memory“.
Nach so viel anstrengender Konzentrationsarbeit
folgt eine Phase der Entspannung, in der die schon
am Vortag gekochten „Refried Beans“ (Rezept im
Anhang), Tacos und Maischips gereicht werden.
Als visuelle Unterstützung dient eine Serie von Dias
von den US-Reisen, zur Stimmung trägt indianische
Musik bei.
Native Americans Today
Phase 5 ist der von den Schülern selbst gestaltete Teil. Er wurde dadurch vorbereitet, dass sie
II
Diese Zusammenfassung der heutigen Lebenssituation in verschiedenen Reservaten bildet die Basis für ein abschließendes Rollenspiel. Bill Clinton
und zwei seiner Berater werden darin mit Punkten
aus einem vorher erstellten Forderungskatalog indianischer Abgesandter konfrontiert und sollen menschliche Lösungen für die angesprochenen Probleme
finden und Maßnahmen versprechen.
Das Echo auf die Projekttage war in allen Fällen
(6 Veranstaltungen bisher) ausgesprochen positiv.
Für die Teilnehmer war das Thema des Genozids
an Tausenden Indianern im Wesentlichen neu und
sie hatten wichtige Informationen dazu erhalten.
Materialien
Videos:
Dances With Wolves, (Kevin Costner),
Constantin Video
Geronimo, (Gene Hackman), Columbia Pictures
1492 – Die Eroberung des Paradieses, (Gerard Depardieu,
Sigorney Weaver), Touchstone Corp.
Bücher:
Die Indianer – Ein historisches Lesebuch,
Beck’sche Reihe 4007, 1995
Die Nordamerikanischen Indianer in frühen Photographien, C.H. Beck, 1992
Discovery Atlas of Native Americans, Rand McNally,
1994
Richard H. Dillon, North American Indian Wars, Magna
Books, 1983
Mary Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes, Lakota Woman,
Harper, 1991
Mary Crow Dog and Richard Erdoes, Ohitika Woman,
Kiepenheuer, 1993
Susan Edmonds, Native Peoples of North America, CUP,
1993
Peter Farb, Die Indianer, nymphenburger, 1988
Jacquin Philippe, Indianerland! Ravensburger TB, 1990
Lewis Spence, Mythen der Indianer, Bechtermünz Verlag, 1993
Bill Yenne, The Encyclopedia of North American Indian
Tribes, Bison Books, 1986
Gisela Hormayr,
Maria-Luise Saxer
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Arbeitsblatt
Rezept
„Refried Beans“
(= 6 portions)
t 1 pound dried red beans
t about 5 cups water
t 1 or 2 medium-sized onions, diced
t 1/2 to 1 cup hot bacon drippings, butter,
margarine, or lard
t Salt
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Thorouhgly wash and drain beans; discard any
foreign material. Combine beans in a 3-quart pan
with water and onions. Soak in cold water overnight
or bring to boil, cover and remove from heat for 1
hour. Return to heat, bring to a boil, then cover
and simmer (adding more water if needed) until
beans are very tender and mash readily (about 3
hours). Drain and mash beans with potato masher
or electric mixer, adding bacon drippings. Mix well;
continue cooking, stirring frequently until beans are
thickened and fat is absorbed. Add salt to taste.
Serve hot or reheat.
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INDIANERPROJEKT
Arbeitsblatt
THE VANISHING MAN
Native Americans and their Background
How were the Americas settled by man in the very beginning?
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
In what way have recent discoveries changed our knowledge
of Indians and their cultures?
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Which figures are mentioned to illustrate the large variety of
Indian cultures?
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Give some examples for their different ways of living:
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
What names did the Indian tribes give themselves?
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
According to the speaker, what was the Indians’ common
philosophy of life?
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
What was it in particular that the first Europeans found so
amazing abut this?
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
How did the image of the „noble savage“ come into
existence?
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Give a few examples of products the whites got from the
Indians:
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
Give a few examples of Indian place names in the U.S. today:
.................................................................................
.................................................................................
IV
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INDIANERPROJEKT
Arbeitsblatt
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In einer weiteren Unterrichtseinheit könnte man genauer auf die Lebensphilosophie der Indianer und
speziell auf ihr Verhältnis zur Natur eingehen. Dazu eignen sich Texte aus dem Buch Language and
Politics (de Gruyter, 1976) sowie die dort abgedruckten Fragen.
Think of Nature First
Interview with a Seneca Chief, in Salamanca, New York, August 1974. Watt is talking to a German journalist.
... I have lived here. 'Course, today is my birthday. I am seventy-three years old today, and all
my life I have studied life. And there are differences between the white person, as we call them,
or the Indian, the red people. In our ways, in the
old Indian ways, we have, we are very close to
nature. We live by nature, and, as we live, there
are people – some of you people – don't have the
time or the chance to talk about or to think about
the nature, the nature of different things, the nature that God has given you, we call our Creator.
So this time I'm going to tell you a little bit about
our beliefs in nature and life.
Life is something that is a nature because you
are born by nature and you live by nature, as we
go along every day, we have to carry the right and
wrong. Them are the two things we always think
of every day, whether you are right or whether
you are wrong, and some of the things you are
careful not to do – the wrong thing. You want to
do the right thing. And that is, we believe that is
good for a person to feel that way – because of
our Maker.
The way we think of being close to nature, we
have to thank nature. We worship every thing that
grows somewhere for our livelihood. We live by it.
And we have trees – that is very important to us.
Like, I live here. I have trees all along my house.
That's the way I like it. So, this is the thing that I
want you to know, and think more often about our
– creation. And maybe you are very busy, walking
around, doing things what you think you should
do, but think of nature first. You can do that in the
morning. You can thank your Maker – in the morning and evening ...
And we believe that it's a good thing that a
man cannot be the judge of weather, that a man
can't be the judge of many things, that only our
Maker, our Creator, can. So, that's the way we
believe, and we have our worships to the Sun, to
the Moon, to the rain gods, to everything, to the
water. And they are the most important things ...
The Moon you know, has a great powers. She
has to watch, as we call the moon our grandmother,
VI
see, and we call the sun our brother. So we have
to make relations, you know, to our nature. And
that's the way we talk when we talk to our grandmother, is the Moon, that she has control of the
tides, water, and even to the women folks, they
follow the months, and which are the cause of
young people to grow in the future. So the moon
has a lot to do with people and birth. So, that's the
reason why the Indians were, they opposed, they
were, we were opposed to people going to the
moon. They didn't want anybody to go there.
Just like the dam that they'd built here, and
they took a lot of our land, and some of the best
land, the best they have taken, and is along the
river. The land on the hills are not as good as the
bottom lands. Because the Indian knew that from
way back, like I said yesterday, they asked about
why the Indians live along the rivers. Indians live
along the rivers. That's one of the things, because
it's good land; it grows everything. And that's one
of the reasons. And then, their traveling ways, and
water like I said today, when we had to take water
– all the time. I knew that river, in my time even,
that river there. When I was a little fellow, I'd been
there to the river, and that water was clear. It was
good enough to drink, and now you can't drink it.
It's so dirty ...
1. According to Watt, what is the difference
between the white people and the Indian?
2. What does “right” and “wrong” have to do with
“nature”?
3. What are the most important things in nature
for Indians?
4. How does the speaker describe his home?
5. What is the difference between the land on
the hills and the bottom lands?
6. The moon seems to be of special importance
to the Indians. Make a list of the items which
indicate this importance.
7. The speaker hints at a few changes that have
been caused by whites. Write these down.
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Arbeitsblatt
Reading: HOW IT ALL BEGAN
Read the following text about the early history of Native Americans and complete the text with words
from the box:
stone
caves
communities
residents
tradition
village
dwellers alterations extensive gatherers sites
record
cultural
The Anasazi, which means Old Ones in the Navajo language, were the cliff .............................. of
the Four Corners region where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico meet. Famous
.............................. such as Mesa Verde in Colorado and the White House ruins of Canyon de Chelly
in Arizona are places where the Anasazi built their abodes in the mouths of huge, dry ..............................
and under the overhang of steep rock canyon walls. The climate and long years of isolation preserved
many of their culture objects, which provide a rich archaeological ..............................
Like other people in the region, the Anasazi were initially prefarming and preceramic. At first, they
were hunters and .............................. but began cultivating corn and establishing more settled
communities about 1000 B.C. Like the Mogollon, the Anasazi also lived in pit houses, but about A.D.
850 they began to build adobe and .............................. houses. Over time they connected these
pueblos and enlarged them, and some of their structures accommodated more than a thousand
.............................. For example, the pueblos at Mesa Verde in Colorado may have housed more than
7,000 people. Again, like the Mogollon, the Anasazi retained pit houses for worship, a ..............................
that survives today. Some contemporary Pueblo still use sacred, semisubterranean rooms called kivas.
The definitive Anasazi apartment house was a huge semicircular complex that housed an entire
.............................. at Pueblo Bonito in New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon. Constructed of stone with mud
mortar and wooden beams, it had hundreds of rooms for its estimated 1,000 people. Pueblo Bonito was
built about A.D. 920, serving as a major .............................. center from which trade flowed to other
settlements.
Scientists believe that as the population grew, the Anasazi migrated to the hinterlands. These
multisatellite settlements were connected by an .............................. road system. Although warfare
may have been a factor, it appears that a long-lasting drought ultimately brought the great Anasazi
culture to an end. Pueblo Bonito is a prime example of how .............................. in the environment
can bring a community to an end. The drought, possibly heightened by human activities, such as cutting
the surrounding timber, exhausted the food supply. By A. D. 1300, most of the Anasazi
.............................. were deserted.
(Aus: The American Indians, Chelsea House Publishers )
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Arbeitsblatt
In einer Hausübung fassen die Schüler die Lebenssituation der Indianer in den Reservaten zusammen.
Die Informationen dafür beziehen sie aus den bereits erwähnten Zeitungsartikeln (Präsentation am Projektvormittag) sowie aus dem nachfolgenden Gedicht. In ihm wird der „typische“ moderne Mann beschrieben.
nila northSun
nila northSun was born in Nevada in 1951. She is Shoshone on her mother’s side, Chippewa on her
father’s. As is common among Indians, she associates herself more closely with her mother’s people.
northSun has published three volumes of poetry: Diet Pepsi & Nacho Cheese; Small Bones, Little
Eyes (with Jim Sagel); and Coffee, Dust Devils, and Old Rodeo Bulls. She favors the e.e. cummings style
of punctuation and capitalization, and like cummings she employs a conversational tone and displays a
keen sense of humor, sharp eye for detail, and original way of looking at things.
another one bites the dust
he’s a pretty good looking Indian
about 24 years old
his waist length hair is adorned
with a couple nice feathers
he wears a cowboy shirt & jeans
next to his beaded buckle
hangs a knife in a buckskin sheath
walking in his scuffed boots he
moves like nobody would stand in
his way
like he’s a mean mother
but he’s small bones and not very tall
still there is a feeling
he has a lot of energy & is not
a fair fighter
so far in his short life
he has fathered 3 children
the oldest is seven
he doesn’t know any of them
for some reason girls want to
have his children
he has totaled 4 cars
with the most damage to himself
being a broken ankle
his passengers have not been
as lucky but lived to tell of
riding the reservation roads
with this crazy indian
the fights in his life are too
numerous & too much the same
he loses & he wins & usually can’t
even remember the next day
what has happened the bloody
ripped shirts & dirty scabs
being the only reminder
of course he drinks too much
& scores smoke whenever he can
he got his regular bunch of
rowdy friends a white bunch
& a indian bunch though he doesn’t
mix the two
he’s really like so many
i’ve known
they more or less
fit the same description
they usually die young
like a pool cue to the back
of the head
or a jealous girlfriend with
a gun
or taking a curve too drunkenly fast
an action packed indian with no
goals or hopes or aspirations
like so many i’ve known
Quelle: Alan R. Velie (Ed.), An Anthology of American Indian Literature, University of Oklahoma Press, 1991
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