Online Sessions
In these sessions, students from both schools were taught simultaneously, exploring questions of identity and religion from different perspectives. Communication was via email, shared Google Documents and Skype. Sessions ran for two hours with a live Internet connection, and work was sometimes completed outside of the sessions for homework.
In these sessions we asked students to see themselves as anthropologist researchers, tasked with finding out more about their partner in the other school. As the sessions progressed they found out what differentiated them but also what they held in common, for example a love of pets of of hip-hop.
First Contact: the LAKD Students write to the CAN Students
The first contact began through the old-fashioned means of postal letters... the arrival of a package of letters from Niger, with bright stamps featuring baobabs, caused some excitement at City Academy. Below are some extracts from these first letters.
Peux-tu me parler de votre pays, de votre ville, de votre école..? [Hassane to Whitney and Emma]
Comment est la vie en Engleterre? [Amina to Emily]
Dans ma famille nous élevons des pigeons. Et toi quel animal eleve-tu chez toi? [Harou to Emily]
Comment est le climat chez toi? [Ramatoulaye to Jade]
Ma couleur preferée est le bleu et toi? [Ramatoulaye to Jade]
Quels sont te chanteurs préférés? [Zeinabou to Jacob]
J'aime beaucoup la lecture et toi? [Roumanatou to Kevinas]
J'elève une chèvre au nom de mimi et toi tu elève quoi? [Assamaou to Callum]
J'habite avec mon papa qui a 2 femmes et 12 enfants dont moi aussi et toi? [Ramatoulaye to Dylan]
As-tu des chanteurs preferés? [Ramatoulaye to Dylan]
Le Niger est un pays du Sahel de l’Afrique de l’Ouest à presque 100% musulman.Indépendant depuis 1960 avec une population de plus de 12 millions d’habitants notre pays compte plusieurs groupes ethniques qui sont: les haoussa, les zarma, les peuls, les touaregs,les kanouris,les toubous,les arabes et les kourmantchés. Toutes ces ethnies vivent en parfaite harmonie. Il y a des mariages entre elles.
CAN Students explore ideas that they (and others) hold about themselves
Afterwards, the CAN students were asked to think about stereotypes that they and others hold about their identity. Notions of 'Englishness' were discussed and scrutinized, as can be seen in the statements below.
"I think this stereotype is not true at all. Never have I seen a man walking around with a cane and a top hat. This is a apparently Stereotypical English man. I don't think this is true at all because most people would only walk around in a suit if they were a business man or going to a formal event. Even if they were going to a formal event they wouldn't bring a cane unless they needed it. Like an old man might walk around with a cane. I think this is a negative point because it makes people think that we need canes to walk and that means there might be something wrong with our legs."
"Another thing people think of English is that all of them drink tea. It is half true because not all of English people drink tea. My family doesn't really like tea. So I think this stereotype is half true as some people drink tea but some don't. Although I do think this is positive as it shows we have money to buy tea."
Asked, "What do you think it means to be British? What is British identity?", the CAN students replied, some poetically, some factually:
- It is to have fish and chips on the beach; the royal family; wild life; green open spaces; cups of tea; bad weather; long queues; cake; Mini (car); football; soaps (telly); raising money for charity mainly races; British history and roast dinners on Sunday.
- When you were born in England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland you are British.
Others compared, implicitly, with African nations:
- Higher educated, more money, better businesses. More chance to survive in war. Better resources. More technology.
CAN Students interview their LAKD penpal using email and skype, and generate a 'factfile' for them
Below are some extracts of the information which LAKD students obtained from their peers.
"If I did not have to wear school uniform, I would wear Hausa clothing with leather shoes, balka as we call it."
"I think that between us and the children of the [Norwich] school we have something in common: they are pupils we are pupils, they are human beings and we too are human beings. There is a difference between us and them, they are younger than us, they are richer than us. We don't have the same religion, we are Muslims, they are Christian, we don't have the same culture and religion."
"Most of the time I wear a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, but that doesn't stop me from wearing a boubou (djaba), shoes made out of leather (balka) or car tire, and a hat (foula)."
"I don't know anything about British identity, but I find them to be nice and pleasant."
The CAN students subsequently placed this information in 'factfiles' about their peers from Zinder, effectively describing what they found out about them.
"I think the media view teenagers as really bad people. This is because a minority of young adults have been smoking, taking drugs and committing serious crimes. The majority of teenagers are kind people that want to simply wear a hoodie to keep them warm. Most of the teenagers that have been committing crimes were wearing hoodie's."
