No Sugar

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

Consider your prior knowledge of the era referred to as “The Great Depression.” When was the Great Depression? What happened during this time period? How did the Great Depression affect the world economies?

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Answer Question orients students to the historical context of the play. In the US during the 1920s, the majority of people had begun to use credit to make purchases, ultimately resulting in a credit balloon that “popped” at the end of 1929. As a result of this “pop,” and many other factors that led to Wall Street’s Stock Market Crash of 1929, the decade of the 1930s was a period of slow economic growth, high debt, and hunger. The Great Depression became a global economic crisis, as most countries experienced high unemployment, food shortages, and a lower standard of living. Davis’s play is set in the early years of the Great Depression and points to the discrimination and Systematic Racism that Aboriginal people faced during the global economic hardship. Many historians believe that one of the main reasons that the Great Depression ended was the start of World War II in 1939, which boosted economic growth through an increase in production and the creation of employment opportunities for wartime manufacturing.

• History.com explores the global economic downturn in “Great Depression History.”
• The National Museum Australia shares an overview of how the Great Depression affected Australians, including a link to a teacher-facing resource.
• In this article, Museums of History New South Wales discusses the experiences of Australians, particularly of Aboriginal people, living during the Great Depression.

Short Activity

In Australia, there are many Indigenous groups, referred to as “Aboriginal” people. Working in small groups, select one of the Aboriginal groups living in Australia and briefly share their background, location, language, and history with the class. In your presentation, be sure to discuss how colonization, the concept of white European Civilization, and Systematic Racism have affected this particular Aboriginal community.

Teaching Suggestion: This Short Activity invites students to explore the sociological context of Davis’s play, namely the variety of Aboriginal communities living in Australia. Although Davis alludes to the multiplicity of Aboriginal communities in the text, the play focuses on the collective troubles that Aboriginal people face as they navigate life under their colonial oppressors. It is important to note that although Australia was a colony of the British Empire, it kept in place institutions that perpetuated Systematic Racism against Aboriginal people after its own independence. This Short Activity segues into the main activity, which invites students to make comparisons between Australia’s treatment of Indigenous peoples with other Western colonizers.

• This National Geographic article explores the history and treatment of Aboriginal Australians. (Please note: the section on “Stolen Generations” links directly with the main activity.)
• The Australian Government’s indigenous.gov.au shares a “Community List” of the different Indigenous communities in Australia.

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the play.

What does it mean to be “civilized”? Consider the historical implications of the word “civilization.” Based on your textbooks and prior knowledge, how is this word broadly defined and taught in our education systems?

Teaching Suggestion: This Personal Connection Prompt invites students to consider the theme of Civilization in their own understanding. The word “civilization” has often been problematized by the Eurocentric views of Western education; in fact, one of the core tenets of imperialism was the belief in the necessity of spreading a “civilized” society (e.g., Western clothing, Christendom, “white collar,” and capitalist-based employment, etc.) to perceived “savage” cultures. This viewpoint influenced many “scientific” fields of study, including early anthropology, sociology, and eugenics. This Personal Connection Prompt segues into the Discussion/Analysis Prompt.

• National Geographic Education’s “Civilization” explores the meaning of “civilization.”

Differentiation Suggestion: For an opportunity for extended discussion, invite students to read Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” (Act I’s first Paired Resource) and participate in a discussion regarding the link between imperialism and the views of what it meant to be “civilized” in late-19th century Europe.