Heng, Geraldine. "Teaching early global literatures." Throughlines. www.throughlines.org/suite-content/teaching-early-global-literatures. [Date accessed].
History is understood through narrative. The stories that are written, repeated, and taught give shape to the past. By decentering European narratives in our teaching, we can expand the scope of historical understanding that our students carry with them into the world. Studying early global literatures shakes the preconceived notions about the past that students bring into the classroom, especially when they are introduced to early global civilizations that were far more complex and modern than Europe.
Further learning
Recommended
Piers Plowman and whiteness in Passion plays
A leather costume worn by an actor playing the crucified Christ offers a new understanding for how medieval drama shaped ideas about race. Wan-Chuan Kao follows the performance tradition of medieval Passion plays into William Langland's Piers Plowman, all while unraveling constructions of whiteness that linger with us today.
