Religious Understanding for Cultural Property

There are a lot of hard questions that we need to ask in the wake of this tragedy:

http://newsfeed.gawker.com/isis-smashes-3-000-years-of-history-in-iraqi-museum-att-1688184667

The Islamic religion teaches that making statues of religious figures or famous people is a form of idolatry.  Therefore, all such artistic mediums must be destroyed.  There are other current examples of believers scratching out the face of the prophet Muhammed from illustrations in the Qu'ran and other examples.

But is it logical to destroy works of art that existed thousands of years before the religious beliefs in question existed?  These are works of art that existed back during the Assyrian empire and various other times; they have nothing to do with Islam or the beliefs of that religion.

In many cases, when works of art are in dispute, every reasonable effort will be made to find the decendents of the original owners, or failing that, attempt to return the work of art in question to the country of origin.  In cases like this, the artifacts are so old that their empires technically do not exist anymore; or are buried under tons of sand.  The inhabitants of these civilizations are likewise dispersed among multiple different cultures and countries.  Obviously, nothing is wrong with any of this.  But is does make the original owners nearly impossible to track down.

In such cases, the artifact is understood to be property of the country in which they were found.  It is then that country's responsibility and perogative to preserve the artifact and share its knowledge, as that knowledge is the cultural property of the world's population.

These men have stolen from the world.  They have acted against the strictures of their own religion.  They have deprived future generations of irreplaceable knowledge of a lost culture.

How will the world respond?

They are historical treasures that belong to the entire world.

Lesson Plans for Mali - Post #2

As promised, here are the lesson plans for the 2nd Grade unit on Mali.

The objective of this lesson is to introduce students to different forms of bullying that they otherwise might not be aware of.  This lesson can be applied to nearly any period of history at any grade level.  For the purposes of my project with the Teach-It-Forward Program at the Smithsonian, I chose to focus it around the American public school system's 2nd Grade Social Studies unit on Mali.

Feedback and questions are more than welcome!

Lesson Plan - Bullying in Ancient Empires

Subject: Mali

Sub-Topic: Village Council Meeting - Effects of bullying on community decisions

1. Introduction: Where is Mali?
1. What is the country of Mali like? (temperature, landscape, etc.)
2. Why is Mali important?
1. Ancient trades routes
2. ancient empires
3. important sources of salt, gold, economic effects
2. Empire Characteristics
1. Mali lay between trade routes focused on the movement of salt and gold.  Why are these important?  What can you do with them?
1. Why is salt important?  Isn’t it common?
3. Village Decisions
1. What is a village?  Is it like a town or a city?  
2. Who makes up the government of a village?
3. How do they make decisions?
4. ** See handout on Members of a Malian Community
4. Activity
1. Assign the roles of the Members of a Malian Community to the boys.  Explain why the girls are left out.
2. Introduce topic for discussion - Should laundry day be moved from Wednesday to Thursday to make accommodations for the herdsman at the watering hole?  Or should the herdsman wait an extra day for water?
3. Let the students discuss and come to their own conclusion.
5. Wrap-up
1. Students return to their spots on the carpet.  
2. The class works together to make a Fair/ Unfair list of the consequences of the Village Chief’s decision.

Lesson Plan Elaboration

The focus of this exercise of a Village town meeting is to introduce students to the way that decisions made by a few people can have far-reaching effects.  Another focus is to emphasize why every member’s opinion should be taken into account, since they have an angle that others may not have thought of.

The problem to be presented is the moving of the village Laundry Day from Wednesday to Thursday.  This situation is under discussion because this particular village is one of the stops situated along a trade route, and travelers will pay money to be able to water their camels at the town’s well. 

Pros:  

This could bring some much-needed income into the town.  News of this would also serve to increase the town’s reputation, thereby hopefully leading to more travelers stopping on their way through, more money and a better profile.

Cons: 

The women of the village wash the laundry on Wednesday.  Moving their day would delay clean laundry, leading to a dirty appearance and smell in front of visitors.  Depending on how quickly the well refills, there might not be enough water left for all the laundry to be done.  Also, this community is Muslim, which means that Friday is a holy day.  Therefore, all other chores would also have to get done by Thursday evening.  Would the women have time to get everything done and take care of the children?

Organization of the Village Council - Roles and Responsibilities

Members of a Malian Community

1. Village Chief:  Similar to the role of the king.  Responsibilities include decision making and the final word on topics of discussion.

2.  Drummer:  Calls people to the meeting.  If the villagers fail to show up on first drum call, they must pay the village chief cola nuts (show pictures of cola nuts).  If villagers fail to show up on second drum call, they must pay money to the village chief. If the villagers fail to show up by the third and final call, they must suffer a punishment.

3.  Treasurer:  Collects dues at the meetings if the village is in need of something. Collects penalty fees and cola nuts for village chief.

4.  Griot:  Records information from the meeting in his head, and repeats it to the group sometimes in the form of a poem, song, or theatrical production.

5.  Elderly Men:  Sit with the village chief and act as his advisors.  The village chief shares his cola nuts with these men.

6.  Young Men:  Sit around the outskirts of the meeting to listen only.  They have not yet earned the right to speak.

7.  Group of people with problems or concerns

who seek advice and counsel from the village chief.

8.  Women:  Stay at home and do not attend village meetings unless they are involved with a group of people with problems or concerns who seek advice and counsel from the village chief.

Discussion:

The students portraying the village council members allowed everyone to speak.  In the end, they decided to move wash day to Thursday to allow the travelers to use their well on Wednesday.

Girls’ Opinion:

When we came back together as a group, the girls were upset that their feelings weren’t included in the decision-making process.  They understood that exclusion did not give them a fair result.  They also voted to make all the boys sleep outside the ‘huts’ that night.

Wrap-Up: 

The students held a good discussion, allowing all village members that were able to speak to have a say.  They seemed to have a good grasp of the fact that the decision of a few would affect many, and that exclusion was unfair.  Overall, they seemed to have a good time with this lesson while efficiently learning the objectives.

Done Differently?

I would have taken a quick brain-break about half-way through this hour long lesson.  The second graders did very well but one hour is too long for them to be sitting without taking a break to move their bodies.