William Dalrymple talks
Teaching notes
How to use this resource
‘William Dalrymple talks’ is part of the larger resource, Writers talk. It aims to stimulate thought and discussion about the context and content of Dalrymple’s writings about colonial India and the fall of the last Mughal in 1857 and the process of writing history.
Dalrymple writes travel literature, history and biography, book reviews and political and religious commentary in a range of media. His books have won numerous awards. Dalrymple was one of over a hundred authors participating in the 2007 Sydney Writers’ Festival.
This resource contains six videos addressing Dalrymple’s ideas about inspiration for writing, the writing process, and the perspective on historical issues in his work. Dalrymple talks about:
- his book The Last Mughal
- his fascination with India and Delhi in particular
- his approaches to researching and writing history
- dealing with primary sources
- writing narrative history with a more popular audience in mind
- keeping the historical rigour but making his work readable to a non-academic audience.
Each video has a series of questions or comments for students to consider and discuss. Teachers may find it useful to combine this resource with others listed in the Related resources section to extend students’ learning.
‘William Dalrymple talks’ can be used with students working towards achieving outcomes from Stage 6 of the NESAs Modern History and History Extension Stage 6 syllabuses. The syllabuses can be found at:
Using ‘William Dalrymple talks’, students have the opportunity to learn about:
- the society and people of British colonial India
- the last Mughal and the Mutiny of 1857
- the process of history research and writing
- significant historiographical ideas and processes
- some ways to plan and conduct historical investigations
- methods of research in conducting an historical investigation.
Using ‘William Dalrymple talks’, students have the opportunity to learn to:
- appreciate the role of planning in any historical investigation
- appreciate the influence of personal experiences on the motivation, interests and interpretations of writers
- appreciate the importance of locating, selecting and organising relevant information from a variety of sources
- understand the importance of using a variety of sources to develop a view about historical issues
- identify different historical perspectives and interpretations evident in sources
- appreciate the way history has been recorded over time
- appreciate the value of history for critical interpretation of the contemporary world.
Quality teaching
This resource provides opportunities to address Quality teaching in NSW public schools by:
- encouraging students to be critical of Dalrymple’s perspectives, his approach to writing and his views on the differences between history and fiction (Problematic knowledge, Higher-order thinking)
- highlighting how travel literature intersects with historical writing for various media (Knowledge integration)
- focusing on the cultural content and context of Dalrymple’s work (Cultural knowledge)
- modelling how students can improve their own processes when using historical sources in their own writing (Connectedness).