Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Research Paper: The Patterns of Western Colonizers’ Treatments of Indigenous Peoples”

In this activity, students will write a research paper on a specific colonial power’s treatment of colonized Indigenous groups.

In Davis’s play, Aboriginal characters are discriminated against by white Australian government officers. Australia was one of the many colonies of the British Empire, where imperialist ideology was enforced on colonized, Indigenous groups.

• In this Activity, you will write a research paper where you select one Western colonizing power and explore their treatment of an Indigenous community.
• In addition to providing a background of the colonizers in a region, consider the patterns of how they treat Indigenous peoples related to their imperialist conquests and if these colonies—after their independence—were able to rewrite narratives of ill-treatment. 
• Finally, share an abstract of your research paper with the class, and consider the similarities of treatment by colonial powers of various Indigenous groups.

Teaching Suggestion: This Activity invites students to engage with the play from the context of colonial legacy and imperialism. Australia is one of the many former colonies of the British Empire, which, at one time, laid claim to every significant region in the world.