Amra Pajalic
  • Home
    • Blog
    • About Me >
      • My Newsletter
      • Press Kit >
        • Alma's Loyalty Media Kit
        • Sabiha's Dilemma Media Kit
        • The Climb Media Kit
        • The Cuckoo's Song Media Kit
      • Articles
      • Book Me >
        • Aspiring writers >
          • Six things writers should do
          • Young Adult Books
          • Writing tips for young people
      • News & Events
      • Za Bosance
      • Resources for Teachers >
        • Remote Learning >
          • Narrative Writing
          • Poetry Writing
          • Fun activities
          • Spelling activities
    • My Books >
      • Young Adult >
        • Cuckoos Song
        • Sassy Saints Series >
          • Sabiha's Dilemma >
            • The Good Daughter
          • Alma's Loyalty
          • Jesse's Triumph
        • The Climb
      • Memoir >
        • Things Nobody Knows But Me
        • Growing up Muslim in Australia
        • Meet Me at the Intersection
        • Rebellious Daughters
      • Romance >
        • Return to Me
        • Hollywood Dreams
      • Dark Fiction Horror >
        • WomanOnTheEdgeShortStory
    • Contact
    • Pishukin Press
    • Grant Writing Course

identity and the m-word

29/5/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
Today I delivered two autobiography workshops at the Immigration Museum. The first one was to year 9 students at Dandenong High school and the second to Grade 6 students at Eltham Primary School.

The students first visited the museum exhibition on identity and Faith, Fashion, Fusion and then we undertook some writing activities delving into the nature of our identity, thinking about who we are, who we want to be, and how knowing our story helps us to deal with life's challenges.

Doing these workshops was such a pleasure because it draws on what I've been doing with the anthology, and it also highlights how much more natural and effortless these public speaking opportunities are since I've been teaching this year.

During the workshop I had a conversation with one of the teachers who asked me about why Muslims put their identity forward. Which was a great question because it in a sense addressed the whole issue of why is there an anthology about the experiences of Coming of Age: Growing up Muslim in Australia.

Picture
He said 'I'm Christian and I don't ever say that about myself.'

And I said 'Well no one asks you.'

I explained that I never tell people that I'm Muslim because in fact I am not. I am of Muslim background and this means that this is a part of my identity and who I am, but that I always qualify that I am not practicing, and I only engage in this discussion because people put me in that position.

Picture
With me the conversations goes something like this.

Random stranger: "Your name is interesting. Where is it from?'

Me: "Bosnian."

Random stranger: "Bosnian. Does that mean that you are Muslim?"

Me: "Muslim background."
Random stranger: "So why aren't you covered?"
Me: "
I'm non practicing."

And while I don't mind these conversations and having the opportunity to engage in dialogue that will clarify misconceptions about Muslim people, it just underlined why there is the need for the anthology and the voices of real Muslims telling their stories and their experiences. So I told him to read the book and hopefully we both walked away with a wonderful shared experience. For me it was an affirmation of the importance of what I'm doing and for him it's an understanding about understanding that identity is not just what we are, but what people put on us.

I'm going to be delivering another round of workshops at the Immigration Museum on identity during the Melbourne Writers Festival on Thursday the 28 August 2014. And I'm also on a panel with Demet Divaroren on Wednesday 27 August 2014 about Growing up Muslim.

*A big thank you to Jan Morley at the Immigration Museum for live tweeting the workshop and photos.

0 Comments

    Author

    Amra Pajalić is an award-winning author, an editor and teacher who draws on her Bosnian cultural heritage to write own voices stories for young people, who like her, are searching to mediate their identity and take pride in their diverse culture. She writes memoir, young adult and romance under the pen name Mae Archer.

    Remote Learning
    Sign up and receive free books.
    Picture

    Subscribe to My Newsletter

    * indicates required

    Twitter feed

    Tweets by @AmraPajalic
    Follow Amra's board On Teaching on Pinterest.
    Follow Amra's board Memoir Blog Post series on Pinterest.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    April 2018
    October 2017
    August 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    December 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Author Feature
    Book Review
    Essay
    Memoir
    My Life
    My News
    Pishukin Press
    Plugs
    Poetry
    Publication
    Publishing
    Teaching
    Writing

Copyright Amra Pajalic 2023
  • Home
    • Blog
    • About Me >
      • My Newsletter
      • Press Kit >
        • Alma's Loyalty Media Kit
        • Sabiha's Dilemma Media Kit
        • The Climb Media Kit
        • The Cuckoo's Song Media Kit
      • Articles
      • Book Me >
        • Aspiring writers >
          • Six things writers should do
          • Young Adult Books
          • Writing tips for young people
      • News & Events
      • Za Bosance
      • Resources for Teachers >
        • Remote Learning >
          • Narrative Writing
          • Poetry Writing
          • Fun activities
          • Spelling activities
    • My Books >
      • Young Adult >
        • Cuckoos Song
        • Sassy Saints Series >
          • Sabiha's Dilemma >
            • The Good Daughter
          • Alma's Loyalty
          • Jesse's Triumph
        • The Climb
      • Memoir >
        • Things Nobody Knows But Me
        • Growing up Muslim in Australia
        • Meet Me at the Intersection
        • Rebellious Daughters
      • Romance >
        • Return to Me
        • Hollywood Dreams
      • Dark Fiction Horror >
        • WomanOnTheEdgeShortStory
    • Contact
    • Pishukin Press
    • Grant Writing Course