ORGANISATION: VILNIUS UNIVERSITY
ACTIVITY 16
ERASMUS + FATI PROJECT
What?
An Empathy Exercise
Migration: An Empathy Exercise is a multi-step reflective exercise designed to build empathy and personal insight into processes of loss, change, and reconnection associated with the disruption of personal and cultural connections to landscape. In the first step, students reflect individually on their experiences in unfamiliar landscapes and how they might feel were they to move away from a home landscape. Second, they envision personal means of building connection with new or unfamiliar landscapes. Having considered these questions at a personal level, students read or are presented with case studies of human movement and their consequences (historical or current). Finally, students reflect on new questions that arose as they considered case studies after thinking about migration or displacement at a personal level. Overall this process is designed to 1) build personal resilience in the face of future changes, 2) enhance understanding and build empathy for displaced or migrant peoples, 3) begin to consider the role of migration (and associated loss of knowledge and/or imported preconceptions about landscapes) in past land use (e.g. in the American West). The exercise can be done in class, or as an independent assignment with follow-up in class. The sequence can be altered depending on specific pedagogical goals. The context of the exercise can vary widely, with potential focus on historical, current, or potential future migrations and displacements of human populations. It can also be used as part of a broader curriculum to examine the implications of migration and displacement on land use. (For example, this exercise can be part of a broader curriculum on the colonization and development of the American West that follows What is the West?, another exercise posted separately in the Curriculum for the Bioregion). The exercise can be broadly adapted for courses in ecological sciences, environmental studies, cultural studies, ecological anthropology, or other classes focused on the intersection of human and natural systems.
Educational use
Group Training Activitiy
Benefits/advantages:
The overarching goals of this assignment are to foster greater awareness of landscape as a form of relationship, to begin to explore the many possible personal and cultural impacts of disruption of relationships with land, and to consider ways to heal or form new relationships with landscape in the wake of disruption. Specific goals are to:
- Raise new questions about the relationship between individuals, communities, and land
- Enhance understanding and empathy for peoples experiencing the loss of connection to home landscapes & new experiences in new landscapes
- Build skills for personal resilience in the face of future changes in personal connection to landscape
- Begin to consider the role of migration (and associated loss and/or imported preconceptions about landscapes) in past and present land use (e.g. in the American West).
How to use it?
The exercise, in small classes, can be conducted as an in-class exercise or as an out-of-class assignment (with written component to record reflections) with follow-up discussion. Either way, the exercise is maximally useful if there is time for in-class discussion. The contextual intellectual content of the activity is flexible and can be broadly adapted to course curricula. Several examples are listed below (assessing future climate impacts and climate refugees; current relocations or disruptions of home landscapes – e.g. tar/oil sands mining impacts on First Nations people; economic migrations – e.g. Mexico to US; historical land use decisions – e.g. species introductions as a way to try to replicate home fauna in new landscapes).
Duration: 45 minutes
Participants: 20
Materials: Parts 1 & 2 can be done in or outside of class
Procedure:
Part one: Ask students to reflect on a move they have made, or to identify an unfamiliar landscape (choose something that is very different of the familiar home landscape, but be specific – imagine an actual place) and imagine themselves moving there. To prompt their thinking, have students journal about the following questions, using specifics:
•What general feelings arise when you think about moving?
•What specific features of the old landscape or members of the ecological community would you miss the most? Please be specific.
•What do you expect would feel most alien about the new landscape?
•If you have experienced a move to a new landscape:
oWhat about the new landscape felt most unfamiliar?
oDo you still feel connected to your original place?
Part two: Ask students to imagine the new landscape again and brainstorm how they might go about trying to connect with it.
•What is intriguing to you about the landscape?
•Is there a place (location, kind of ecosystem, suite of species, etc) that captivates you in particular?
•What are the feelings that arise as you think about trying to connect with your new place?
•If you have already moved:
oWhat were the places that you unexpectedly came to love?
oDid you (and how did you) connect to your new place?
Part three: In class, discuss individual reflections.
Part four: Read about and then discuss in class case studies of migration, displacement, or relocation (see examples below). In class, ask students to identify and reflect on any new questions that arose as they considered the case studies (give them ~10 minutes), then discuss in class. Questions might include:
•Did the exercise of thinking about movement in your own life lead you to think differently about others’ experience of migration, displacement, or changing connection to home landscapes?
•What questions do you have about the personal experiences of people in the case study?
•What questions do you have about the experience of individuals moving into your community from other regions?
•Are these questions new to you?
Resources & availability:
https://serc.carleton.edu/bioregion/examples/65892.html
ACTIVITY 17
ERASMUS + FATI PROJECT
What?
Teambuilding and Commonalities Icebreakers
Educational use
Group training Activity
Benefits/advantages:
This is a nice activity to allow participants to identify similarities and differences, whether between
cultures, countries of origin, or individuals.
How to use it? Follow the step by step process.
Duration: 30 minutes
Participants: 10
Materials: no specific materials
Procedure:
Ask participants to stand in a circle facing each other. Explain that you will read a statement, and participants will decide if that statement applies to them or not. If the statement applies, the participant will take one step forward toward the center of the circle. If the statement does not apply, the participant will remain standing where they are. Ask participants to reflect on each statement before making the decision to step forward or not. Remind participants that the interpretation of statements is completely individual, and that there is no right or wrong interpretation.
Read the statements one by one. Give time for participants to make their decision, time for discussion if needed, and then ask participants to step back if they have stepped into the circle.
You can select statements that relate directly to your topic,
or some low-risk statements such as those below:
1. I had breakfast today.
2. I like the snow.
3. I consider where I live to be my home.
4. I like to play or watch sports.
5. I was born in the United States.
6. I speak more than one language.
7. I like to cook.
8. I like to eat.
9. I have children.
10. I like how I sing, even if other people don’t.
11. At some point during this exercise I chose not to respond even though the statement applied to me.
Resources & availability:
ACTIVITY 18
ERASMUS + FATI PROJECT
What?
Insider/outsider game
Educational use
Group training Activity
Benefits/advantages:
To encourage conversations about the complexities and multiplicities of cultural identity
and ‘belonging’ and the range of ways in which individuals experience cultural influences.
This lesson addresses the key concepts, terminology and complex issues
of migration, immigration, cultural identity and belonging. Experiential
learning activities that reflect migrants’ lived experiences will provoke open
and honest dialogue and help foster students’ understanding and empathy
for the challenges associated with migration.
Students will have opportunities to share their own stories of migration.
Limits: This activity should always be paired with a definitions activity to ensure that participants have enough background knowledge to interpret the parallels between the game and migration/settlement issues in the country of inhabitants.
How to use it? Follow the step by step process.
Duration: 35-45 minutes
Participants: 15
Materials: Tokens of 5 different colours (coloured paper scraps, plastic tokens, candies, etc.).
Procedure:
Randomly divide class in half: “Insiders” and “Outsiders” (without naming them as such)1. Separate the two groups for different sets of instructions and explain that there is to be NO forceful physical contact of any kind.
2. Give the ”Insiders” the following instructions:
a. Form a tight circle, facing out.
b. Your goal is to fully control the access of the outsiders into your circle. You may do this with your bodies,
but using only passive physical force (e.g. forming a wall, squeezing together).
c. Your stock of resources and skills are represented by coloured tokens. Your goal is to protect, manage and
increase them. You should know that only 2 kinds are really valuable (indicate which two colours)
3. Distribute tokens to “Outsiders” unevenly; some receive an assortment of colours, and some receive more tokens than others,
some with only one colour of token.
4. Give the ”Outsiders” Instructions:
a. Your goal is to gain access into the circle. You may use any means available (e.g. talking, using your resources,
distraction, ect.), except physical force.
b. These tokens represent your resources and skills.
5. Group some outsiders in “family groups”. These family groups may or may not have the same kinds of tokens (try to make sure at
least one family doesn’t). Tell them their goal is to stay together.
6. Bring the outsiders to the insiders and instruct each group to pursue their goals.
7. After about 15 minutes (or when the group dynamics have drawn to some sort of close).
Thank the class for participating and ask them to return to their seats to debrief the activity.
Debrief Questions:
All:
· How did you feel during this activity?
· What did you observe?
Outsiders:
· How did you feel about your role?
· How did you feel if you were able to access the circle?
· How did you respond to the insiders’ behaviour?
Insiders:
· How did you feel about your role and goals as ‘Insiders’?
· Did you feel any pressure and if so, how did you respond?
All:
· What might this game represent?
· What do you think the coloured tokens might represent?
· In the real world, who might make decisions about what ‘tokens’/assets are considered valuable?
· How are you impacted by these decisions?
· How might this game relate to an experience in your life (e.g. at school or in your community)
· How might this game relate to the political and economic situation or other situations
in the real world?
Resources & availability:
http://accesstomedia.org/wp-content/uploads/Documents/youthMADE_PerfectImmigrant_lesson.pdf