Planting the Oar

FAIN: AV-248477-16

Telling Project (Austin, TX 78704-3407)
Max James Anthony Rayneard (Project Director: September 2015 to December 2019)

A series of humanities discussion groups on homecoming from military service, held at four locations around the United States.

The Telling Project seeks funding for PLANTING THE OAR. This initiative will seed communities throughout the United States with NEH Discussion Leaders equipped to lead Discussion Groups that bring veterans and civilians into conversation. Participants will examine the idea of homecoming in the wake of war through such canonical literary texts as The Odyssey, Othello, Wilfred Owen poetry, Mrs. Dalloway, and The Things They Carry. The final component of the program will be a reading of a Telling Project play script, and attendance / viewing of a Telling Project performance of veterans and military family members telling their stories to their communities. The Telling Project will partner with local theaters and humanities councils / centers to stage PLANTING THE OAR in four communities across the United States over two years. Each iteration of the program will seed a given community with 5 NEH Discussion Leaders, who will each facilitate Discussion Groups of up to 10 participants.

Associated Products

Planting the Oar Discussion Group Manual (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Planting the Oar Discussion Group Manual
Author: Rayneard, Max
Abstract: Planting the Oar seeks to bridge the divide between veterans and civilians by facilitating discussion between them around great literary texts that examine civilian / veteran relations. The Planting the Oar Discussion Group Manual has two purposes: 1) To provide context and guidance for the texts discussed in Planting the Oar Discussion Groups 2) to prepare participants so they will arrive at discussion groups having given thought to the literary texts they have read and they questions they give rise to. The manual provides facilitates discussion on the following subjects: Week 1 - What is a Veteran? / What is a Civilian? Week 2 and 3 - The Odyssey Week 4 - Othello Week 5 - The poetry of Wilfred Owen Week 6 and 7 - The Things They Carried Week 8 - The script of Telling: Orlando Each week is divided into three sections. 1) provides a rationale for the inclusion of the text in the Planting the Oar curriculum, a brief overview of history, context, and aesthetic forms of the text, and where relevant, a very broad overview of the plot and characters in the text. 2) Open ended free-writing prompts meant to facilitate discussion 3) A selection of key quotations from the text, as well as prompts for discussion
Year: 2017
Primary URL: thetellingproject.org/planting-the-oar
Primary URL Description: Provides more information on Planting the Oar, as well as contact details of the author.
Audience: General Public

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