First Encounters: Unknown Voices in History – Podcast (H)

$15.00

In the Age of Exploration and Discovery, European Kings financed great expeditions in search of the vast untapped resources of North America, Asia, and Africa. As explorers probed beyond the outermost reaches of the known world, the fact that they encountered people with their own flourishing civilizations was almost a side effect of their conquest for wealth and power. Historical records of first encounters with newly discovered civilizations were naturally written from the perspective of the discoverers’ own cultural contexts. Now put the shoe on the other foot: write the story of first encounter from the perspective of the “discovered” seeing Europeans – or the ‘other’ – for the first time. The format is that of a podcast for the (pretend) podcast called ‘Unknown Voices in History’.

Description

The Project: In the Age of Exploration and Discovery, European explorers probed beyond the outermost reaches of their known world. Kings didn’t finance these expeditions to learn about their worldly neighbors. They were seeking vast troves of natural resources in North America, Asia, and Africa. The fact that they encountered people there with their own flourishing civilizations was almost a side effect of their global conquest for wealth and power. Historic records of European first encounters with newly discovered civilizations were naturally written from the perspective of their authors’ own cultural context. In this challenge, we put the shoe on the other foot. Write the story of first encounter from the perspective of the “discovered,” seeing Europeans for the first time. Choose your native culture, from any continent. How do these newcomers appear? What do they look like in their dress, armory? How do they comport themselves? Do they seem cultured, or backward? What are your impressions, fears, and hopes? Are the native people happy to be “discovered” by the newcomers? Are they a threat, or do they see a way that they can help each other, perhaps has trading partners? The format is that of a podcast. There is a (pretend) podcast called ‘Unknown Voices in History’. You are producing this piece for this show. The team will write two or three monologues that offer to our audience two or three persons from the native culture telling us what they saw or felt or witnessed. It’s as if your team is creating a primary resource of people from that time being interviewed. This podcast are those interviews of them telling their stories. In two – three minutes, tell this story of two cultures colliding on the native people’s home soil, from the perspective of the native people.