I wonder!

Now I am at my wondering phase of my project. According to Daniel Callison in, The Blue Book: On Information age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy, humans are naturally curious. The tasks, according to Callison, is to question and then refine your questions.

I wonder a lot about Wales. I wonder about her history, culture and literature.

Who are the Welsh and where does their history begin?
How did they become dominated by England?
How have they dealt with the English and others?
How has the landscape of Wales affected her peoples?


Many people have commented that they don't know much about Wales, unfortunately neither do I. I find this disturbing because I was both a history major and I am into genealogy. I feel there is a huge gap in my knowledge about history.

I once took a graduate level history class on colonialism. One of our papers had to be on a group that has been dominated by another. These groups were dubbed "the others." My paper was on Christian Missionary Women in China, who were treated horrifically by Americans and the Chinese. So what is my point, the history about "the others," is hard to find. Often any attempt to articulate their nationalism and identity have been thwarted by their oppressors. It may be difficult, at times to identify the Welsh voice. The English, of course have much to say about their neighbors, but it is doubtful that it is totally accurate.

I feel that through Welsh literature and film, I can get a glimpse of the history, culture and the relations between the Welsh and her oppressors. I have always felt that literature and film should be used often in history class. Literature is like a photograph, it paints a picture of a certain time and place. The authors values are forever frozen in time, giving an information inquirer an opportunity to glimpse the past.

Film, does the same, but since some are visual learners, watching a film is more effective than reading a book. Therefore, I am going to create an annotated bibliography on Welsh literature and film.

Callison, DAniel, Lesile Preddy (2006) The Blue Book on Information Age Inquiry, Instruction and Literacy.