We learned about double consciousness when we read The Absolutely True Diaries of a Part-Time Indian earlier this year. In our discussions, we noted that Arnold Spirit had two conflicting cultures that he needed to navigate through on a daily basis. The first was the culture of his Native American reservation. The second was the culture of the predominately white school he attended. In Arnold's case, we watched as he learned to navigate through each of these cultures, while still retaining his individuality.
In Ishmael's case, the double consciousness he experiences mostly comes after he exits the army and is supposed to go from a hardened killer to a child once again. As one would imagine, this is not an easy switch.
After reading to the end of chapter sixteen, you all completed a blog post that explains the nature of Ishmael's double consciousness. Here is a student post that I found to be pretty insightful:
Student Response #1
Next class, we will read a little bit more and I will give you all some time to give your student blogs/ blog entries a little TLC (tendering loving care) before we say goodbye to quarter two.
