4.1 Introduction
4.2 Guidelines literature
4.3 Tasks for literature
4.4 Three poems
4.5 The Little Prince
4.6 Malamud's Black
4.7 Guidelines for films
4.8 Tasks for films
4.9 Guidelines songs
4.10 Stranger than you
4.11 Bibliography

4.11 Bibliography with ideas for further reading, viewing and singing

Michaela Čaňková, Christiane Peck, Veronika Rot Gabrovec 

• Topics and themes are mentioned only as approximate guidance. Readers will relate to many other relevant topics in these texts.
  
• There are lots of titles out there which can and should be added to this list. Consider it but a meagre starting point for your own exploration of the field.

Novels & Short Stories

Truth is Stranger Than Fiction...
(English proverb)

For ideas on how to incorporate literature into your foreign language and/or teacher education courses with the primary aim of developing intercultural communicative competence, see the general Guidelines for using literature and Tasks and activities for literature as well as specific examples of activities to use Three poems by Liz Lochhead, and lesson plans to help explore Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince and Malamud's Black is my favorite color.

Aboulela, Leila. 2005. Coloured Lights. Polygon.
(short stories, young people from a range of backgrounds, set in London, Scotland and Sudan)

Adebayo, Diran. 1997. Some Kind of Black. Abacus.
(a brother and sister on their way to explore London and themselves)

Alexie, Sherman.  2001. The Toughest Indian in the World. Vintage.
(short stories by a Native-American author)

Al-Shaykh, Hanan. 2002. Only in London. Bloomsbury.
(Arab culture in London)

Angelou, Maya. 1993. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Virago Press.
(autobiographical, growing up as an African-American and a female)

Azzopardi, Trezza. 2001. The Hiding Place. Picador.
(Maltese immigrant family in Wales of the 1960s)

Ali, Monica. 2004. Brick Lane. Black Swan.
(gender and nationality)

Balasubramanyam, Rajeev. 2001. In Beautiful Disguises. Bloomsbury.
(a young girl in south India)

Bandele, Biyi. 2000. The Street. Picador.
(multicultural community, family relationships)

Blackman, Malorie. 2002. Noughts & Crosses. Corgi Books.
(an alternative view of racism and prejudice)

Blackman, Malorie. 2005. Knife Edge. Corgi Books.
(a follow-up to Noughts and Crosses)

Cisneros, Sandra. 2004. House on Mango Street. Bloomsbury.
(short stories about growing up as a Hispanic-American)

Chang, Jung. 1991. Wild Swans. Random House.
(three generations of Chinese women in China of the twentieth century)

Chaudhuri, Amit. 2001. New World. Picador.
(a boy from American Midwest taken to India)

Doctorow, E. L. 1975. Ragtime. Picador.
(America of the early 20th century, Anglo-, Jewish and African-American characters) FILM

Duff, Alan.1990. Once Were Warriors. Tandem Press.
(love and death affects the life of a Maori family in contemporary New Zealand) FILM!

Eugenides, Jeffrey. 2002. Middlesex. Picador USA.
(Greeks in America of the 20th century)

Evaristo, Bernardine. 2001. The Emperor´s Babe. Hamish Hamilton Ltd.
(Londinium in AD 211, a story of Zuleika from Sudan)

Forster, E. M. 2005 (1924). A Passage to India. Penguin Books.
(Racism in colonial India.) FILM!

Gunesekera, Romesh. 1993. Monkfish Moon. The New Press.
(a collection of short stories about life in Sri Lanka)

Gunesekera, Romesh. 1995. The Reef. The New Press.
(Sri Lanka and emigration)

Gupta, Sunetra. 1999. A Sin of Colour. Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
(Britain and India, a family saga)

Guterson, David. 1995. Snow Falling on Cedars. Bloomsbury.
(World War II, Japanese and American relationships)

Haddon, Mark. 2003. The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night-Time. Vintage.
(family relations, Asperger Syndrome)

Hamilton, Hugo. 2004. The Speckled People. Harper Perennial.
(German-Irish childhood)

Hensher, Philip. 2002. The Mulberry Empire. Flamingo.
(19th century Britain and Russia fight for Afganistan)

Hendry, Frances Mary. 2003. Chandra. Oxford University Press.
(a young girl in India crossing the line between the traditional and the newer system of values and beliefs)

Hofmann, Corinne. 1998. Die weiße Massai.  A1 Verlag.
(Eng. The white Masai, 2005, Arcadia Books Ltd)
(A Swiss girl falls in love at first sight with a Masai warrior and decides to start a new life in Africa.) FILM!

Ihimaera, Witi. 2003.  Whale Rider. Robson Books Ltd.  
(rediscovering the ancestral life force of a Maori tribe, gender) FILM!

Ishiguro, Kazuo. 1990. A Family Supper.
(a short story, a clash between traditional Japan and its Americanization)

Kay, Jackie. 1999. Trumpet. Picador.
(Questions of gender and fluid identity).  FILM to be made, based on the novel!

Kazantakis, Nikos. (English Translation 1952.) Zorba the Greek. New York: Simon and Schuster.
(an Englishman discovers Crete and its culture) FILM!

Kincaid, Jamaica. 1991. Lucy. Plume Books.
(autobiographical, a girl from the Caribbean comes to the USA)

Kingston, Maxine Hong. 1981. The Woman Warrior. Picador.
(growing up Chinese-American in California)

Kneale, Matthew. 2000. English Passengers. Hamish Hamilton Ltd. (19th century Englishmen and Irishmen travelling to and reaching Tasmania)

Kneale, Matthew. 2002.  Mr Foreigner. Orion.
(a young Englishman's life in Tokyo)

Kureishi, Hanif. 1990. The Buddha of Suburbia. Faber.
(London and New York through the confession of a Pakistani/British young man) TV SERIES!
Choose any of Kureishi's novels, plays or short stories / for instance, one of the most well known (and very topical at present) is My Son the Fanatic (ideology, generation gap, immigrants). There's a FILM based on this story as well.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. 2000. Interpreter of Maladies. Flamingo.
(a collection of stories about Indian people, living in the USA)

Levy, Andrea. 1999. Fruit of the Lemon. Headline Book Publishing.
(search for identity roots in Jamaica)

Levy, Andrea. 2004. Small Island. London: Headline Book Publishing
(Britain after the Second World War, Jamaican immigrants)
If you like these two books by Levy, try also her Never Far From Nowhere or Every Light in the House Burnin'.

Lodge, David. 1975. Changing Places. Penguin Books.
(the world of the American and British Academia compared and questioned / the academics included)

Malouf, David. 1993. Remembering Babylon. Pantheon Books.
(a Scottish community in the 19th century Australia, a white child growing with the Aborigines, questions of identity)

Mikes, George. 1986. How to be a Brit. Penguin.
(Mikes migrated to Britain from Hungary, and in the forties published his first collection of witty articles on How to be an Alien; although you might find his observations slightly dated, the above mentioned collection of his three major works still remains very funny and a good read.)

Mo, Timothy. 1983. Sour Sweet. Sphere.
(London´s Chinese community)

Morrison Toni. 2000. The Bluest Eye. Alfred A. Knopf.
(African-American girls growing up)
Check also any other book by this prolific author, writing on being black and a woman.

Ondaatje, Michael. 1984. Running in the Family. Picador.
(Ceylon of the 1920s, autobiography)

Ozick, Cynthia.
Check her stories about the Jewish American life, e. g. The Puttermesser Papers, (1997) about a Jewish intellectual female in New York.

Perera, Shyama. 1999. Haven´t Stopped Dancing Yet. Sceptre.
(Girls growing up in London in the 60s and 70s)

Phatanothai, Sirin (with James Peck). 1994. The Dragon's Pearl. Growing up among China's Elite.  Simon & Schuster.
(a rich Thai girl grows up with the Chinese political elite, and survives in the turmoils of political changes)

Potok, Chaim. 2003 (1972). My Name Is Asher Lev. Anchor Books.
(clash between Jewish and American values)

Powers, Richard. 2003. The Time of Our Singing. Vintage.
(1960s clashes, mixed marriage)

Roy, Arundhati. 1998. The God of Small Things. Flamingo.
(An Asian-Indian-English web of stories, spun around and by young twins and their family)

Rushdie, Salman.1995. Moor´s Last Sigh. Vintage.
(Portuguese and Jewish influences in a rich family saga set in south India)
Try also his Midnight's Children!

Saroyan, William 1989 (1940). My Name Is Aram. Harcourt.
(an autobiographical short story collection about a small Armenian boy growing up in the 1930s California)

Silko, Leslie Marmon. 1999 (1977). Ceremony. Sagebrush.
(Native American and white cultures living side by side, question of identity)

Smith, Zadie. 2002. White Teeth. Penguin Books.
(gender, race, class and history, Indian, mixed-race and Jewish families)

Smith, Zadie. 2003. The Autograph Man. Penguin Books.
(children of mixed marriages growing up in London)

Srivastava, Atima. 1999. Looking for Maya. Quartet Books.
(cultural identity, set in London)

Syal, Meera. 1999. Life Isn´t All Ha Ha Hee Hee. Doubleday.
(three Indian women growing up in London)

Tan, Amy. 1991. The Joy Luck Club. Vintage.
Tan, Amy. 2004. Kitchen God´s Wife. Harper Perennial.
(Tan focuses on relationships between Chinese and American women, on Chinese women of different generations etc)

Walker, Alice. 2004 (1982). The Color Purple. Phoenix Press.
(being black and a female/daughter/wife in the US South) FILM!

Winton, Tim / his short story collections (e.g. Scissions, Maximum of Two, In the Winter Dark, all published by Picador)
(the need for intercultural communication, often within the same culture, is described in many of the short stories by this contemporary Australian author.)

Picture books (Writers & Illustrators)

• Bernard Ashley, Carol Thompson. 2003. Double the Love. Orchard Books.
  (A mixed race family)
• Babette Cole. If you want to discuss any of the taboo topics, gender questions etc / Babette Cole has probably written a picture book about it. Highly enjoyable and thought provoking.
• Mem Fox, Julie Vivas. 1991. Possum Magic. Harcourt Brace & Company. (A heart-warming culinary tour of Australia.)
• Mem Fox, Leslie Staub. 2001. Whoever You Are. Voyager Books.
  (Universality of smiles)
• Jackie French, Bruce Whatley. 2004. Pete the Sheep-Sheep. Clarion Books. (Questioning the traditional views of who can / or should / pursue which career.)
• Laurie Krebs, Julia Cairns. 2003. We All Went On Safari. A Counting Journey Through Tanzania. Bath: Barefoot Books. (Join African children on a school trip and learn to count in Swahili.)
• Alison Lester, 2005. Are we there yet? A journey around Australia. Kane/Miller Book Publishing. (A Travel Picture Book)
• Not exactly picture books, but you and your students might enjoy them  nevertheless: check Uderzo Goscinny's  Asterix series. The books have been translated into many languages and published in many countries, there are even a few films based on them.

Films

"A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction. It should be a progression of moods and feelings. The theme, what's behind the emotion, the meaning, all that comes later."  (Stanley Kubrick)

For ideas on how to incorporate films into your teaching to develop intercultural communicative competence, see the general Guidelines for using films and specific Tasks and activities for films: Real women have curves.

Films in English

Zorba the Greek (1964, dir. Michael Cacoyannis)
- based on Nikos Kazantakis' book: an American discovers Crete and its culture

Ragtime (1981, dir. Miloš Forman)
- based on E. L. Doctorow's book America of the early 20th century, Anglo-, Jewish and African-American characters

Stranger than Paradise (1984, dir. Jim Jarmusch)
- first and second generation Hungarians in the USA

A Passage to India (1984, dir. David Lean)
- based on E. M. Forster's book. A story about racism in colonial India.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985, dir. Stephen Frears, script by Hanif Kureishi)
- friendship and racism

The Color Purple (1985, dir. Stephen Spielberg)
- based on Alice Walker's book: being black and a female/daughter/wife in the US South

Down by Law (1986, dir. Jim Jarmusch)
- an Italian and two Americans escape from prison

Out of Rosenheim (1987, dir. Percy Adlon)
- Bavarian woman starting a new life in the desert of the United States

Night on Earth (1991, dir. Jim Jarmusch)
- taxi drivers in different parts of the world

Romper Stomper (1992, dir. Geoffrey Wright)
- skinheads, racism 

Bahji on the beach (1993, dir. Gurinder Chadha)
- women and British-Indian culture clash

Once Were Warriors (1994, dir. Lee Tamahori)
- a powerful portrayal of brutal life of a contemporary Maori family, of male and female roles in the society

Before Sunrise (1995, dir. Richard Linklater)
(two students, an American boy and a French girl, spend a night in Vienna)

My Son the Fanatic (1997, dir. Udayan Prasad)
- first & second generation of Asian immigrants to Great Britain

In the Name of the Father (1998, dir. Jim Sheridan)
/ Father - son relationship, Ireland; English/Irish relationship  

The Big Lebowski (1998, dir. Ethan and Joel Coen)
- specifics of US culture, multi-ethnic society
Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch: Teaching Films. 68/2004, 40-48.

East is East (1999, dir. Damien O'Donnell)
- living in an Anglo-Pakistan family
Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch: Multikulturelle Jugendliteratur. 59/2002, 25-31.

What Becomes of the Broken Hearted? (1999, dir. Ian Muire)
- a sequel to 'Once Were Warriors'; family and gang life.

Monsoon Wedding (2001, dir. Mira Nair)
- aspects of the Indian culture in a community of Delhi
Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch: Teaching Films. 68/2004, 34-39.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002, dir. Joel Zwick)
- A Greek American woman dating and eventually marrying a non-Greek American.

Bend it like Beckham (2002, dir. Gurinder Chadha)
- an Indian girl tries to escape from her parents' traditionalism
Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch: Teaching Films. 68/2004, 28-32.

Dirty Pretty Things (2002, dir. Stephen Frears)
- illegal immigrants in London

Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002, dir. Phillip Noyce)
- stolen generations in Australia 

Real women have curves (2003, dir. Patricia Cardoso)
- a young Latina living in Los Angeles facing the future. (For more suggestions and activities to explore this film, see section 4.8)

Whale Rider (2003, dir. Niki Caro)
/ generation gap, gender & tradition in New Zealand

Before Sunset (2004, dir. Richard Linklater)
- a sequel to Before Sunrise: nine years later, the protagonists meet again in Paris

Just a kiss (2004, dir. Ken Loach)
- love story between an Indian man and an Irish woman

Spanglish (2004, dir. James Brooks).
- two Mexican women, a mother and a daughter, come to America searching for a better life

Somersault (2004, dir. Cate Shortland)
- generation gap

LA Crash (2005; dir. Paul Haggis)
- different cultures coming together in Los Angeles

Goodness Gracious Me. BBC Comedy series.
- Anglo-Asian community. Comedy, successfully transcending mere ethnic humour.

Films in French

La vie est un long fleuve tranquille (1988, dir. Etienne Chatiliez)
- comédie: les milieux bourgeois et ceux des HLM des années 80 se croisent
Voire: Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Französisch: Spielfilm. 61/2003, 12-17.

Trois couleurs: Blanc (1993 dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski)
- l'histoire d'un polonais et d'une française

La haine (1995, dir. Mathieu Kassovitz)
- tragédie: la vie de jeunes en banlieue
Voire: Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Französisch: Moderne Chansons. 21/1996, 48-50.

Le TGV Express (1997, dir. Moussa Touré)
- un voyage aventureux en Afrique

Drôle de Félix (2001, dir. Olivier Ducastel, Jacques Martineau)
- contre les stéréotypes: le voyage d' un jeune homosexuel à la recherche de son père

L'auberge espagnole (2002, dir. Cédric Klapisch)
- la vie d'un groupe d'étudiants de différents pays partageant un studio à Barcelone

Fais-moi des vacances (2002, dir. Didier Bivel)
- l'histoire de deux enfants qui décident de partir en  vacances

Exils (2004, dir. Tony Gatlif)
- un couple de jeunes français en quête de leurs racines algériennes

Le grand voyage (2004, dir. Ismaël Ferroukhi)
- le voyage d'un père maghrébin et de son fils à Mekka

Dans tes rêves (2005, dir. Denis Thybaud)
- un jeune rappeur (Disiz la peste) à la recherche du grand succès

Films in German

Yasemin (1989, dir. Hark Bohm)
- Liebesgeschichte zwischen einer Türkin und einem Deutschen

Angst essen Seele auf (1973, dir. Rainer W. Fassbinder)
- Liebesgeschichte zwischen einer Deutschen und einem Marokkaner

Happy birthday, Türke (1992, dir. Doris Dörrie)
- Krimi im Unterweltmilieu

Solino (2002, dir. Fatih Akin)
- italienische Migranten in Deutschland
    
Gegen die Wand (2004, dir. Fatih Akin)
- türkische Migranten in Deutschland

The Kebab Connection (2005, dir. Anno Saul)
- Komödie: türkische Einwanderer in Deutschland, Kung Fu, und binationale Beziehungen

Die weisse Massai  (2005, dir. Hermine Huntgeburth)
- eine Schweizerin verliebt sich in einen Samburu Krieger und bleibt mit ihm in Kenia (Biogr. Drama) 

Knallhart (2006, dir. Detlev Buck)
- Jugendliche mit Migrationshintergrund in Berlin

Other films

Nešto izmedju / Something In-Between (Yugoslavia, 1982, dir. Srdjan Karanovič)
- An American journalist falls in love with a man from Yugoslavia of the 80s (a country that is something in-between). Language: Serbian & English.

Cartas de Alou (Spain, 1990, dir. Montxo Armendáriz)
- A young immigrant from Senegal working in a glass house in the south of Spain.

Flores de otro mundo (Spain, 1999 , dir. Icíar Bollaín)
- Tragicomedy: young Latinamerican women coming to a small village in La Mancha to marry Spanish men.

Jalla! Jalla! (Sweden, 2000, dir. Josef Fares)
- A foreign worker in Sweden loves his (Swedish) girlfriend but is about to marry a Lebanese girl to prevent her from being sent back home. Language: Swedish & Arabic.

Nikogaršnja zemlja/No Man's Land (Slovenia/Bosnia, 2001, dir. Danis Tanovic)
- During the war in Bosnia, two soldiers, a Serb and a Bosnian, got stuck in no man's land. Language: Bosnian /Serbian/English.

Al otro lado (Mexico, 2005, Gustavo Loza)
- Three children in Cuba, Mexico and Marocco searching for their fathers who left the family to find work "on the other side" (al otro lado) of the frontier.

Songs

Those who sing bear no evil in their heart.
(Slovenian proverb)

For ideas on how to use songs to develop intercultural communicative competence, see Guidelines for using songs and Two examples for using songs

English

Tracy Chapman: Across the lines (Tracy Chapman 1988)

Genesis: Illegal alien (Genesis 1983)

Eddy Grant: Gimme hope Jo'anna (Greatest Hits 1989)

Ice T: I must stand  (2004)

Joe Jackson: Stranger than you (Night and day II 2000) See recommended activities in Two examples for using songs.

Michael Jackson: Black or white (Dangerous 1991)

Midnight Oil: The Dead Heart (Diesel and Dust 1987)
Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Englisch: Australien und Neuseeland. 2/1991, 40-41.

Santana feat. Wyclef Jean: Maria, Maria (Supernatural 1999)

Willy Schwarz: Minstrel man (Live for the Moment 1999) See recommended activities in Two examples for using songs.

Bruce Springsteen: Across the border (The Goast of Tom Joad 1995)

Sting: Englishman in New York (Nothing like the sun 1987)

United Artists Against Apartheid: Sun City (Sun City: Artists against Apartheid 1985)

Wyclef Jean: Yele Lyrics (Presenting the Carnival 1997)

French

Alliance Ethnik: Respect (Respect 1995)
Voire: Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Französisch: Moderne Chansons. 21/1996, 27-30.

Barbara: Göttingen (Femme piano 1997)

Patrick Bruel: Combien de murs (Bruel 1994)
Voire: Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Französisch: Moderne Chansons. 21/1996, 26-28.

Francis Cabrel: Saïd et Mohammed (Cabrel Public 1984)

Disiz la peste: Le bien c'est ma cible (Jeu de société 2003)

Disiz la peste: Une histoire extraordinaire (Les histoires extra ordinaires d'un jeune de
banlieue 2005)

Fatals Picards: Elle est belle la France (Les oreilles loin du front 2004)

IAM: Nés sous la meme étoile. (L'école du micro d'argent 1997)
Der Fremdsprachliche Unterricht Französisch: La nouvelle chanson francaise. 81,82/2006, 51-55.

Khaled: Aïsha  (Sahra 1996)

Gilbert Laffaille: Neuilly Blues (Neuilly Blues 1979)

Massilia Sound System: Ma ville est malade (Les oreilles loin du front 2004)

Massilia Sound System: Marseillais (Commando Fada 1995)
MC Solaar: Dégâts collatéraux (Cinquième As 2001)

MC Solaar: Hasta la vista (Cinquième As 2001)

MC Solaar: Hijo de Africa (Cinquième As 2001)

Yannick Noah feat. Disiz la peste: Métiss(es) (2005)

Raggasonic: J'entends parler (Raggasonic 1995)

Renaud: Deuxième génération (Morgane de toi 1983)

Renaud: Doudou s'en fout (Morgane de toi 1983)

Têtes Raides: L'identité (Les oreilles loin du front 2004)

Zebda: Tombés des nues (Essence ordinaire 1998)

German

Herbert Grönemeier: Männer (4630 Bochum 1984)

Udo Jürgens: Griechischer Wein (Zeig mir den Platz an der Sonne 1994)

Tic Tac Toe: Isch liebe disch (Ist der Ruf erst ruiniert 2000)

Wir sind Helden: Aurélie (Die Reklamation 2003)

Spanish

Enrique Bunbury: El extranjero (Pequeño 1999)

Manu Chao: Clandestino (Clandestino 1998)

Manu Chao: Welcome to Tijuana (Clandestino 1998)

Celtas Cortos: El emigrante (En estos días inciertos 1996)

Ekhymosis: Raza (Ekhymosis 1997)

Ella baila sola: La patera (Marta y Marilia 2000)

Maná: Pobre Juan (Revolución de amor 2002)

Molotov: Frijolero (Dance and Dense Denso 2003)

Orishas: Emigrante (Emigrante 2002)