Project Assigned: November 9, 2011 Project Due: November 16, 2011

Objectives:

Students will

learn about the impelled migration of the Lost Boys (and Girls) from their homeland in southern Sudan to refugee camps in Ethiopia and Kenya and the eventual resettlement of thousands in the United States

learn about culture clash and community-building across multiple scales and contexts: o culture clash between Muslims and Christians/Animists within Sudan (a conflict

as much about socio-cultural power and control of resources as about religion) o culture clash between the Dinka immigrants and their American receiving

communities o the challenges of assimilation and acculturation ("melting pot" vs. "salad bowl") o community-building strategies practiced among the Lost Boys both within the

refugee camps and in the United States, once resettled o community-building strategies practiced among the Lost Boys and the

communities into which they settled apply their knowledge and understanding of migration, culture clash, and community-

building to a local context by identifying a refugee or immigrant group within the local community or region and engaging with community members to raise awareness of the conditions/concerns/contributions of the refugee/immigrant group

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In-class:

Are you familiar with Peter Pan’s Lost Boys, characters in the J.M. Barrie novel Peter Pan who formed a family and took care of each other in Never-Never Land? A group of young men fled a bloody civil war in their native Sudan, trekked nearly a thousand miles to a refugee camp in Kenya, and eventually were resettled in the United States. Relief workers called them the "Lost Boys" after the boys in the J.M. Barrie novel, and the media picked up on this moniker; the group is now known collectively as "The Lost Boys of Sudan."

A film called God Grew Tired of Us tells the story of three of these young men, and as a class, we will learn about the Lost Boys of Sudan as an example of human migration, cultural differences, and community-building. You will apply your knowledge to a local context by identifying a refugee or immigrant group within our local community or region and engaging with community members to raise awareness of the conditions, concerns, and contributions of that refugee or immigrant group.

Development:Activity 1: Setting the Context—Conflict and DiasporaTake a look at and review the following relevant vocabulary, including migration, emigrant, immigrant, refugee, diaspora, and resettlement. You also have copies of the National Geographic: Xpeditions: Human Migration Guide (Grades 9-12).

Why did the Lost Boys have to flee their homes? Why couldn’t they stay in Ethiopia? What was life like in the refugee camp? What new things did they experience on the journey from Kenya to the United States?

Cultural Identity, Cultural Differences, and Community-BuildingTake a look at and review relevant vocabulary, including cultural identity, assimilation, acculturation, cultural landscape, and cultural marker.

Reflect on and answer the following questions:

What have you learned about Dinka culture? What markers are representative of Dinka culture? Of American culture? What values do the Lost Boys hold? How do those values compare with your own?

What questions and fears do the Lost Boys have about life in the U.S.? What questions and fears would you have if you were moving to a new country? What differences do you see between Dinka culture and American culture? What are some of the challenges the Lost Boys encounter? How do they adapt to life in the United States (think in terms of both assimilation and acculturation)? How do you think you would adapt to life in a new place?

What community-building strategies have the Lost Boys practiced both within the refugee camps and once resettled in the United States?

What community-building strategies have been practiced among the Lost Boys and the communities into which they settled?

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What sense of responsibility do the Lost Boys feel toward each other and toward their families and friends still in Africa? In what ways are they trying to improve their own lives and those of their families and friends? What can students do to make a difference in their own community?

Watch the following film clips(At Home or Library) for help with questions above:

Sense of Place & Community: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countries-places/sudan/sense-of-place-ggtu.html

Cultural Differences: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countries-places/sudan/cultural-differences-ggtu.html

Responsibility & Leadership: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/places/countries-places/sudan/responsibility-leadership-ggtu.html

In a well thought out and documented 2-3 page essay, answer the questions above in an essay

format (Introduction, Supporting Paragraphs, and Conclusion). Give reasons to support your

position. Document your sources using MLA citation. This paper should be word processed, size

12 font, and double spaced. You need to use at least two sources to document your position.

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Project Assigned: November 9, 2011 Project Due: November 22, 2011

Group Homework Project:

Community Migration Connections and Civic Engagement

As a class, we will look at the concepts of service-learning and civic engagement. You will apply your knowledge and understanding of migration, culture clash, and community-building in a real-world context by identifying a refugee or immigrant group within the local community or region (or at the national or international level).

Conduct research about immigrant or refugee groups in the local area (or beyond), and identify one group on which to focus for your project.

The following is an outline of an online project planning tool to help develop a plan for raising awareness about or helping an immigrant or refugee group. It uses an interactive series of questions and templates that guide the user through the project planning process, and allows you to plan out a timeline, budget, funding proposal, press release, service-learning reflection plan, and other helpful resources. The steps include:

1. Contact Information 2. What's Your Issue: Defining Your Community Needs & The Challenge 3. What Can We Use: Identifying Our Resources, Skills, and Assets 4. The Path to Change: What Do You Want to Achieve - Defining your Mission, Vision,

and Goals 5. Build It - Establishing Your Objectives and Tasks 6. Location of Proposed Project 7. Bus Talk: The Summary 8. What do We Need: Creating your Budget 9. Who Will Support us: Developing your Fundraising Campaign 10. Roles and Responsibilities: Creating your Coordinating Committee and Advisory

Committee 11. Generating Publicity/Buzz: Create Your Press Release and/or Media Story 12. Mobilizing Community Support: Now We Have to Get People Involved in the Actual

Project Event. 13. Are we making a difference: Evaluating your Impact 14. Reflecting on What We Did 15. Celebrating and Recognizing Our Efforts

You and your partner are to prepare Glogsters (www.glogster.com) or PowerPoint presentations describing your project plan.

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Student Assessment:

Student project plans and presentations will be evaluated based on students’

understanding of the key concepts of migration (especially refugees/immigrants), the quality of

their research, the synthesis of the components into a clear portrait of the target community’s

conditions, concerns, and contributions, and how the students propose to connect with the

community in order to make a difference. The stages of preparation, action, and reflection should

all be considered as part of the evaluation.

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