1.+AREA+OF+STUDY;+BELONGING

AREA OF STUDY
In the Area of Study, students explore and examine relationships between language and text, and interrelationships among texts. They examine closely the individual qualities of texts while considering the texts’ relationships to the wider context of the Area of Study. They synthesise ideas to clarify meaning and develop new meanings. They take into account whether aspects such as context, purpose and register, text structures, stylistic features, grammatical features and vocabulary are appropriate to the particular text.

This Area of Study requires students to explore the ways in which the concept of belonging is represented in and through texts.
 * == AREA OF STUDY: Belonging ==

Perceptions and ideas of belonging, or of not belonging, vary. These perceptions are shaped within personal, cultural, historical and social contexts. A sense of belonging can emerge from the connections made with people, places, groups, communities and the larger world. Within this Area of Study, students may consider aspects of belonging in terms of experiences and notions of identity, relationships, acceptance and understanding.

Texts explore many aspects of belonging, including the potential of the individual to enrich or challenge a community or group. They may reflect the way attitudes to belonging are modified over time. Texts may also represent choices not to belong, or barriers which prevent belonging.

Perceptions and ideas of belonging in texts can be constructed through a variety of language modes, forms, features and structures. In engaging with the text, a responder may experience and understand the possibilities presented by a sense of belonging to, or exclusion from the text and the world it represents//.// This engagement may be influenced by the different ways perspectives are given voice in or are absent from a text.

In their responses and compositions students examine, question, and reflect and speculate on: • how the concept of belonging is conveyed through the representations of people, relationships, ideas, places, events, and societies that they encounter in the prescribed text and texts of their own choosing related to the Area of Study • assumptions underlying various representations of the concept of belonging • how the composer’s choice of language modes, forms, features and structures shapes and is shaped by a sense of belonging • their own experiences of belonging, in a variety of contexts • the ways in which they perceive the world through texts • the ways in which exploring the concept and significance of belonging may broaden and deepen their understanding of themselves and their world.

The set text we will be using for Area of Study is the Australian film by Baz Luhrman, //Strictly Ballroom//

The following file has further materials on Strictly Ballroom.

You will also need to study a range of additional texts which should be a mix of stories, poems, cartoons, newspaper/magazine articles, film.
 * FOR A LIST OF ADDITIONAL TEXTS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ADDITIONAL TEXTS ON BELONGING CLICK HERE**

Some additional texts that you can use to develop your ideas on Belonging: The attached document suggests some contrasts between the ideas on Belonging in Strictly Ballroom and the ideas to be found in the Knight poem and in the Radio documentary. ||
 * Etheridge Knight, "the idea of ancestry" (poem) [[file:Knight poem.pdf]]
 * //Waiting for the tide//, ABC Radioeye radio documentary on the ama women, Japanese women divers for abalone. Radio documentary by Kumi Kato available at: http://www.abc.net.au/rn/radioeye/stories/2007/1957039.htm
 * Kominos, "Nobody calls me a wog anymore" (poem) [[file:Komninos on Komninos.docx]]
 * //Amazing Grace// (film) [[file:Amazing Grace.docx]]
 * Doris Lessing, "Through the Tunnel" (short story) [[file:through the tunnel worksheet.docx]]