The Impact of Civil War and Conflict on Identity
Theme and Core Questions:
- How do people define citizenship or nationality in the times
of government crisis? To what degree does political instability
affect the common person?
- What are the economic impacts (both positive and negative)
of domestic conflict or civil war on the average citizen?
What are some of the survival strategies used to deal
with these impacts?
- How do the five themes of geography (location, place, human
& environmental interaction, movement, and region
formation) shape the decisions made by citizens during
conflict or civil war?
- How do conflicts or civil wars affect religious institutions
and the religious beliefs of the average man or woman?
- What is the history of power sharing between ethnic groups
or social classes in the country affected by conflict
or civil war? How do values and attitudes toward ethnicity,
social class, and nationality change during civil war?
What factors have an effect on these changes?
Overview: These lessons include a map activity, a comparison
chart and an essay, building and drawing on the knowledge
from the civil war country case studies.
Time Required: 3 class periods or 135 minutes
Suggested Grade Levels: Grades 8 –12
Interdisciplinary Applications: Social Studies and Literature
NJ Core Content Standards: 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7
Instructional Objectives:
- Define: nationalism, ethnicity, identity, civil war, history
(textual and oral), sovereignty, religion, culture, country,
nation, nation-state
- Identify some civil wars and conflicts that have been unresolved
in modern times. For example: Vietnam, Nigeria, Lebanon, Yugoslavia, Colombia,
etc.
- Explain how civil war impacts the common person.
- Analyze the effects of conflict on identity using PEERS.
- Synthesize the understanding of the impact of civil war
or conflict on the common person by developing empathy
for the various decisions they have to make.
Strategies:
- Map activity: Students should examine maps of Lebanon, Vietnam and Nigeria.
Class discussion on the relationship of ethnicity, land and conflict.
- Comparison chart: Students should review the material from the case studies.
Students should complete comparison chart with the information
from the case studies via class discussion listing PEERS
items on the board or chart paper. Students should review chart for homework in preparation
for the essay the following day in class.
- Essay: Teacher should begin with a discussion on the central
question of the essay, comparing the case studies.
Using essay guidelines, students should write an essay comparing
2 of the case studies.
Materials:
Resources:
Assessment:
Map Activity
Comparison
chart Essay
comparing the case studies
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