Our second workshop saw us go through the process of discussing, evaluating and planning out how we would include personal historical narratives into our game.
These personal narratives are particularly significant for the Industrial R[e]volution project, which is at its core, an educational endeavour aimed at communicating Britain's industrial history to secondary school students.
These narratives and characters allow us to have students connect more with the game itself, as with an empathic element, the door is opened for students to develop an interest in the period similar to the one they might develop when learning about other countries.
The Industrial R[e]volution project has been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with Emma Griffin, a professor of modern British history at the University of East Anglia, and author of several books, two of which have won the Lord Aberdare Prizes for Literary/Sport History.
As a part of this collaboration, we have been able to draw quotes from her 2013 publication Liberty's Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution. This has given us access to the hundreds of autobiographies penned between 1760 and 1900 the text draws upon, presenting a fantastic resource for which to build up the personal narrative element of the IR project.
The book itself focuses on the Industrial Revolution through the lens of how industrialisation impacted on the lives and standards of living of ordinary people. Within the book, Griffin takes a perspective not often shown by the economically oriented historical narrative often taken by many writing on the period. Contrasting the traditionally pessimist view, it shows how income was raised, literacy rates increased, exciting opportunites presented themselves for political action, and how many achieved greater cultural and sexual freedom.
Some of the quotes the educational professionals on the team have selected include:
If you would like to read more about Emma Griffin, she has her own website you can check out at http://www.emmagriffin.info/index.php.
Liberty's Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution is available online or in several bookstores across the country, and you can find critical praise for it at http://www.emmagriffin.info/libertys-dawn.php .
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