Memories of Childhood: Discrimination and Resistance

Active learning helps students connect emotionally and intellectually to these stories of discrimination and resistance. When students move beyond passive reading, they analyse power structures, question narratives, and reflect on their own experiences with fairness and justice in schools.

• Class 12
• English
• 4 activities
• 15 min–30 min

Learning Objectives

1. Compare the distinct mechanisms of power in Zitkala-Sa's experience of assimilation and Bama's experience of caste discrimination.
2. Analyze how Zitkala-Sa and Bama utilize personal memory and narrative to document institutionalized injustice.
3. Evaluate the role of formal schooling as both a site of oppression and a tool for resistance in both autobiographical accounts.
4. Synthesize the shared and differing impacts of systemic oppression on marginalized identities across diverse cultural contexts.

Jigsaw

⏱ 20 min·Pairs

Pair Mapping: Oppression Mechanisms

Students in pairs create a two-column chart listing forms of oppression from each text, such as physical force in Zitkala-Sa's narrative and social exclusion in Bama's. They note one similarity and two differences with textual evidence. Pairs share one insight with the class.

Prepare & details

Compare the distinct forms of systemic oppression in both narratives — racial and cultural assimilation in Zitkala-Sa's account versus caste discrimination in Bama's — and analyze what each reveals about the specific mechanisms of power operating in their respective contexts.

Facilitation Tip: In Pair Mapping, ask students to underline specific phrases in both texts that describe the mechanisms of oppression before they draw connections.

Setup: Adaptable to standard Indian classroom rows. Assign fixed expert corners (four to five spots along the walls or at the front, back, and sides of the room) so transitions are orderly. Works without rearranging desks — students move to corners for expert phase, return to seats for home group phase.

Materials: Printed expert packets (one per segment, drawn from NCERT or prescribed textbook), Student role cards (Expert, Recorder, Question-Poser, Timekeeper), Home group recording sheet for peer-teaching notes, Board-style exit ticket covering all segments, Teacher consolidation notes (one paragraph per segment for post-teaching accuracy check)

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Jigsaw

⏱ 25 min·Small Groups

Small Group Timelines: Resistance Moments

In small groups, students construct timelines of key events from both texts, marking points of oppression and resistance like Zitkala-Sa's rebellion or Bama's realisation of dignity. Groups present how memory fuels agency. This visualises narrative progression.

Prepare & details

Analyze how each author uses personal anecdote and memory to document institutionalized injustice, considering how the geographic, historical, and cultural differences between colonial America and post-independence India shape each narrative's meaning.

Facilitation Tip: For Small Group Timelines, provide sticky notes so groups can arrange resistance moments chronologically and explain why each act matters.

Setup: Adaptable to standard Indian classroom rows. Assign fixed expert corners (four to five spots along the walls or at the front, back, and sides of the room) so transitions are orderly. Works without rearranging desks — students move to corners for expert phase, return to seats for home group phase.

Materials: Printed expert packets (one per segment, drawn from NCERT or prescribed textbook), Student role cards (Expert, Recorder, Question-Poser, Timekeeper), Home group recording sheet for peer-teaching notes, Board-style exit ticket covering all segments, Teacher consolidation notes (one paragraph per segment for post-teaching accuracy check)

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Jigsaw

⏱ 30 min·Whole Class

Whole Class Debate: Education's Role

Divide the class into two sides to debate if education acts more as oppression or resistance, using quotes from both authors. Students prepare arguments beforehand and rebut opponents. Conclude with a class vote and reflection.

Prepare & details

Evaluate education as both a site of oppression and a tool of resistance in both texts, using specific evidence to assess how each author's relationship to formal schooling differs in its consequences for identity and agency.

Facilitation Tip: During the Whole Class Debate, assign roles like 'moderator', 'note-taker', and 'evidence-finder' to keep all students engaged.

Setup: Adaptable to standard Indian classroom rows. Assign fixed expert corners (four to five spots along the walls or at the front, back, and sides of the room) so transitions are orderly. Works without rearranging desks — students move to corners for expert phase, return to seats for home group phase.

Materials: Printed expert packets (one per segment, drawn from NCERT or prescribed textbook), Student role cards (Expert, Recorder, Question-Poser, Timekeeper), Home group recording sheet for peer-teaching notes, Board-style exit ticket covering all segments, Teacher consolidation notes (one paragraph per segment for post-teaching accuracy check)

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Jigsaw

⏱ 15 min·Individual

Individual Memory Journal

Students write a short personal anecdote of facing or witnessing unfairness, then link it to themes in the texts. They identify a resistance strategy from Zitkala-Sa or Bama to apply. Collect for feedback on empathy growth.

Prepare & details

Compare the distinct forms of systemic oppression in both narratives — racial and cultural assimilation in Zitkala-Sa's account versus caste discrimination in Bama's — and analyze what each reveals about the specific mechanisms of power operating in their respective contexts.

Facilitation Tip: Have students write their Individual Memory Journal entries in two columns: one for the emotion they feel, the other for the action that followed.

Setup: Adaptable to standard Indian classroom rows. Assign fixed expert corners (four to five spots along the walls or at the front, back, and sides of the room) so transitions are orderly. Works without rearranging desks — students move to corners for expert phase, return to seats for home group phase.

Materials: Printed expert packets (one per segment, drawn from NCERT or prescribed textbook), Student role cards (Expert, Recorder, Question-Poser, Timekeeper), Home group recording sheet for peer-teaching notes, Board-style exit ticket covering all segments, Teacher consolidation notes (one paragraph per segment for post-teaching accuracy check)

• Understand
• Analyze
• Evaluate
• Relationship Skills
• Self-Management

Teaching This Topic

Teachers should balance empathy with critical analysis. Ask students to notice how both writers use details—hair cutting as ritual violence, food tied to caste shame—to make abstract systems visible. Avoid rushing to conclusions; let students sit with discomfort before guiding them toward historical and social contexts. Research shows that personal narratives like these make systemic oppression tangible for adolescents, but only when paired with structured reflection.

What to Expect

By the end of these activities, students will compare different forms of oppression, recognise resistance in everyday acts, and articulate how education can either reinforce hierarchy or become a space for reclaiming dignity. Look for thoughtful connections between Zitkala-Sa and Bama, not just summaries of their texts.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

During Pair Mapping, watch for students who write 'caste and race are the same' without referencing the different sources of power described in the texts.

What to Teach Instead

Ask students to compare the roles of the school system, government policy, and community customs in both texts using their mapping sheet. Highlight where authority comes from in each case.

Common Misconception

During Small Group Timelines, watch for students who list resistance acts without linking them to forms of oppression.

What to Teach Instead

Remind groups to label each resistance moment with the specific discrimination it countered, using the timeline’s side notes.

Common Misconception

During the Whole Class Debate, watch for students who claim 'education always hurts marginalised children' without acknowledging the writers’ own educational achievements.

What to Teach Instead

Prompt them to find examples in the texts where schooling provided tools for resistance or solidarity, using the debate’s evidence board to cite lines.

Assessment Ideas

Discussion Prompt

After the Whole Class Debate, assess students’ ability to balance nuance by asking them to write a short reflection: 'Which side of the debate did you find most convincing, and what evidence from either text changed your mind?'

Exit Ticket

After Pair Mapping, collect students’ completed Venn diagrams and assess whether they have accurately contrasted the mechanisms of oppression (state violence vs. community hierarchy) and identified a shared resistance strategy.

Quick Check

During Small Group Timelines, circulate with a checklist to see if students can match each resistance moment to the correct form of oppression. Note students who confuse the two narratives.

Extensions & Scaffolding

• Challenge students who finish early to rewrite a scene from either text from the oppressor’s perspective, using the same sensory details to justify their actions.
• Scaffolding for struggling students: Provide sentence starters like 'When Zitkala-Sa says _____, it shows _____ because _____.'
• Deeper exploration: Invite students to research one modern parallel to either text (e.g., indigenous children in Canada, manual scavengers in India) and present findings to the class.

Key Vocabulary

Assimilation	The process by which a person or group's language and/or culture come to resemble those of another group, often involving the loss of original cultural identity.
Caste Discrimination	Prejudice and unfair treatment based on a person's social hierarchy or caste, particularly prevalent in South Asian societies.
Cultural Erasure	The deliberate or unintentional removal or suppression of a culture, its traditions, language, or history.
Systemic Oppression	The ways in which institutions and societal structures create and maintain disadvantages for certain groups of people.
Agency	The capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices, often in the face of constraints.