TOPIC 62. THE COMMONWEALTH. CULTURAL DIVERSITY.

DEVELOPMENT OF LINGUISTIC VARIETIES. INTERCULTURAL

INFLUENCES AND MANIFESTATIONS AS SEEN IN THE NOVELS OF
EDWARD MORGAN FORSTER, DORIS LESSING AND NADINE
GORDIMER.

The topic I have selected is number 62, entitled The Commonwealth. Cultural diversity.
Development of linguistic varieties. Intercultural influences and manifestations as seen
in the novels of Edward Morgan Forster, Doris Lessing and Nadine Gordimer., which
comprises the notions of the term “commonwealth” and a summarized outline of it, the
importance of cultural and linguistic diversity, the influences and manifestations in
literature, the teaching inference, a conclusion and the bibliography.

The unit chosen becomes absolutely indispensable within the curriculum of EFL. In
compliance with the Organic Law LOMLOE 3/2020, December 29th, it is important to
promote the need to understand and express oneself fluently and correctly in this
language. Likewise, it fosters communicative, socio-cultural and multilingual
competences, belonging in turn to the cultural block of contents. Then, it is undeniable
that for an ESL teacher, the richness of contents that this subject matter involves is
priceless, especially if we give account for the multiple communicative strategies
students need to master before becoming efficient in English.

Up to this point, I shall proceed to introduce the concept of the “Commonwealth”.

Following the Encyclopaedia Britannica (2004), this term “Dates back to the 15 th
century as an English equivalent to the Latin “res publica”, meaning public good”. It is
commonly believed that the term was first used to describe the British Empire back in
1884. Fast forward to the 20 th century, words like “empire” or “colony” were keen to
discard, and therefore the term British Commonwealth came in use. This shift in
language matched the ideology of a shared liberal destiny for the Empire. Through the
1960s and 1970s, the Commonwealth grew due to the fact that the African, Asian,
Caribbean and Oceanic nations joined this association despite having gained their
independence quite recently.

In its current state, the Commonwealth can be defined as the association of 54 states
which cooperate and work together in the common interest of their peoples and to
promote international understanding and world peace. The dimension of the
Commonwealth represents almost 30% of the membership of the United Nations, whose
symbolic head is the British monarch, Elizabeth II, and her family, after the death of
George VI in 1952. Her main role has been to promote unity and continuity of all
member states of the Commonwealth of Nations.

To understand the Commonwealth, we must start with its origins. Firstly, we have to
mention the historical links. As previously stated, the roots of the Commonwealth date
back to the British Empire, when some countries were ruled directly or indirectly by
Britain. Some of them became self-governing whilst retaining Britain’s monarch as
Head of State, and later became members of the British Commonwealth of Nations,
which have close historical ties to Britain.

It is important to clarify that the concept of “dominion” had been used to refer to
“autonomous communities within the British Empire”, being equal in status and not
subordinate in any way. These “dominions” included Canada, Australia, South Africa
and New Zealand, and one by one they sought and achieved full independence. Through
the Statute of Westminster (1931), it was given local recognition to the sovereignty of
dominions.

In 1949, the association we know today as “The Commonwealth” came into being.
Membership today is based on free and equal voluntary cooperation, being Rwanda and
Mozambique the last two incorporations. Once the Statute was adopted by all countries,
the Commonwealth was formed and had as its original members United Kingdom,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the Irish Free State and Newfoundland.
The history and the story of how the Commonwealth came into being is related to how
Britain reacted to its loss of Empire with very little resistance because the impact of the
two world wars led to the disintegration of the Empire.

In this same year, a summit of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers took place in
London. Here, the question to be resolved was whether countries which intended to
become a republic, such as India, could also form part of the Commonwealth. The
leaders agreed in the London Declaration of 1949 that the Indian Republic could remain
a member of the Commonwealth on the basis of “free association” and “equality” with
complete political and legal independence.

The aforementioned theoretical framework will lead us to describe the cultural and
linguistic diversity that existed in that time. The key strength of this institution is the
combination of the diversity of its members and a shared inheritance in language,
culture and rule of law. In this section, I will briefly refer to Canada, Australia, the
Caribbean islands and India, the four really representative members of the
Commonwealth.

Starting with Canada, until the 18th century, it was comprised by French immigrants.
However, in subsequent centuries, the majority of Canada’s immigrants arrived from
the United Kingdom. Therefore, there is a clear cultural diversity (45% of the
population are British, followed by the French who make up around 25%). The
influence of this French colonisation is still evident in culture. Indeed, the French-
speaking population of Quebec is the separatist fraction which seeks independence on
and off since the 1970s. In linguistic terms, Canada has developed a type of Canadian
English which differs from other North American varieties. The differences are mostly
in vocabulary, pronunciation and even spelling. Unlike American English, Canada has
no distinctive grammar features of its own, choosing to follow the British English
model.

Turning now to Australia, the first thing to say is that it is the smallest continent on
Earth and also the longest country in terms of area. As Speck (1998) states, “Most
Australians are European descendants, with a very large minority of Aborigines.”
Nowadays, Sydney and Melbourne are home to the country’s largest Asian and Chinese
communities. Regarding the dialect, English is the official language although the
country has developed words and phrases of its own to refer to names of plants,
animals, places and tools, among others.

Moving on to the Caribbean Islands, each island has an immense cultural diversity,
keeping old traditions and loyalties. For instance, Trinidad is influenced by the French,
Spanish, Creole and also Indian traditions, whereas Jamaica, Antigua and Barbados are
mostly of English influence. However, they all share a common past and a common
culture. The islands were systematically exploited by different European powers for
their tobacco, cotton and sugar. Linguistically, the English spoken refers to the
Caribbean English Creole, although it is quite distinct from English.

Finally, I will take a look at the cultural and linguistic diversity of India. India is
regarded as a subcontinent rather than a country. It is comprised by a caste system, with
a huge number of races, languages and religions, influenced by a sexist ruling.
Linguistically, English became the prestige language of the country in the 19 th century
as a result of the place being ruled by educators, administrators, army officers and
missionaries from England. Even today, English is considered the lingua franca, being
studied at every stage of education, so it can no longer be considered “elitist” anymore.

Having covered the notions of the Commonwealth and the cultural and linguistic
diversity existing in the most relevant countries which form it, in this section I will be
looking at the literary background and influences of three representative authors: E.M.
Forster, Doris Lessing and Nadine Gordimer. In fact, one of the most exciting
developments after World War II was the emergence of a strong and independent
literature from Black Africa. On top of that, these three authors lived in a post-colonial
era, whose writings were shaped by living in India and Africa. Their
works deal with political, social, economic and cultural issues, so
they are highly representative in the Commonwealth’s evolution.

1. E. M. Forster (1879-1970), born in London, travelled to India

at the age of 33 and returned after World War I. He worked as
a private secretary to the Maharajah of Dewas, which is
actually the setting for his masterpiece A Passage to India (1924). It is an
account of the country under British rule, and it was the most widely acclaimed
of his novels and looks at the relationship between British colonials and native
Indians, focusing on the difficulties that arose from that subjugation. Moreover,
four of his most important titles are Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), about a
woman’s in-laws who did not let her marry a young Italian), A Room with a
View (1908), about an uneducated, ignorant and innocent girl with a
psychological virginity) and Howard’s End (1910), focused on social aspects,
imperialism and the contrast between the rich and the poor). In all his novels, he
explored the emotional deficiencies of the English
middle class and examined its relationships with other
social statuses.
2. Doris Lessing (1919-2013) was born in Persia (today’s
Iran) to British parents. Later on, the family moved to Southern Rhodesia
(Zimbabwe nowadays) in search of a better life. There, she experienced living in
a white colonial society, and this clearly influenced her first novel entitled The
Grass is Singing (1950 – a series of flashbacks about the main character’s
 murder, which explores shallowness and complacency of white colonial
society). Her major achievement, Children of Violence (1952-1969) is made up
of five novels about the heroine Martha Quest. In fact, her experience of trying
to live an Edwardian life in Africa provided her with authentic material, so she
fives autobiographical hints in her writing production. The main theme is the
taboo of colour and the barrier between black and white races. Actually, in 1956,
in response to her courageous outspokenness on the situation of black Africans
living under white culture rules, she was declared a “prohibited alien” in both
Southern Rhodesia and South Africa. Without doubt, she
was given the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2007 and is
considered one of the most important post-war writers in
England.
3. Nadine Gordimer (1923-2014) was born in South Africa to
well-off parents. As a child, she witnessed how the white minority weakened the
rights of the black majority, which motivated her writing. In common with the
other two authors mentioned in this section, much of her work is
autobiographical and draws on growing up in a divided society. Furthermore, it
deals with moral and racial issues as well, as we can see in some of her books,
such as Burger’s Daughter (1979) and July’s People (1981), which were banned
later on. In 1991, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for her novels
and short stories, and was recognised as a woman who “through her magnificent
epic writing” had been of great benefit to humanity. She died in 2014 after
leaving behind a legacy of truly thought-provoking literature.

Literature, and therefore, literary language, is one of the most salient aspects of
educational activity, and in this unit, we have lined its relevance to the Commonwealth
literature and, in particular, in English-speaking countries. So, the Commonwealth may
be easily approached to students by familiar issues such as racism, the Gibraltar
question or historical figures such as Gandhi, by establishing a parallelism with the
Spanish culture and relating it to different core subjects such as History or Spanish
language.

It is undeniable, after all theory I have surveyed, that one of the objectives of teaching
English is to introduce our students to models of all types of English literature, but
especially work which shines a light on Britain’s historical and cultural past – because
this past has shaped the present. Therefore, by teaching them about the history of the
British Empire and the Commonwealth, as well as three major figures who were clearly
representative in this period.

Most of our students will not be aware of the Commonwealth Games. So, when talking
about this topic and relating it to sport in class, they can research where the 2022 Games
are being held. In addition, this kind of activity promotes the usage of ITC as well as
teamwork. Furthermore, our role as educators also consists of encouraging our students
to do further research to different issues related to the Commonwealth and also to the
aforementioned writers since they are still relevant in society today. By introducing
texts, documentaries and biographies into our syllabus, we are opening our students’
eyes and minds to a world beyond the classroom and developing their social and civic
competence, too. It is useful to mention that the webpage of Burlington gives access to
graded books which can be perfectly appropriate in the academic field. In this particular
case, we should focus on Gandhi, available for 4th ESO students. In addition, for those
learners who prefer the cinema version, they can also find them on several digital
platforms. Finally, new technologies may provide a new direction to language teaching
as they set more appropriate contexts for students to experience the target language.

Last but not least, as teachers, we need to be aware of the impact of multilingualism in
our classrooms. When focusing on culture and literature, we know that multilingual
students have grown up with more than one cultural influence and language, so they are
already aware of their impact. Their experiences can also be shared in order to enrich
the education they receive, including at the same time the concept of multicultural
education.

The bibliography I have used for the development of this topic is the following:

 Alexander, M. (2000). A History of English Literature. Macmillan.

 Lace, W. (2000). The British Empire: The End of Colonialism. Lucent Books.
 Na, N. (2016). Commonwealth Literature. Macmillan.
 Organic Law 3/2020, December 29th, which amends Organic Law 2/2006, of
May 3, 2006, on Education. Official State Gazette, 340, December 30, 2020,
122868-122953.
 Roxburgh, E. (2015). Great Empires: The British Empire. Christophers.
 Speck, W. (1998). Literature and Society in Eighteenth-Century England. Book
Reviews.
 Sanders, A. (1996). The Short Oxford History of English Literature. Oxford
University Press.