Separating Us from Them

About This Lesson

In the previous lesson, students began their study of the Armenian Genocide by learning about the status of Armenians and other groups within the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century. Before exploring this history more deeply, students will take a step back in this lesson to examine what it means to belong in a society (whether it be an empire, a nation-state, or a smaller community or group). Learning about the concept universe of obligation, students will consider the benefits and protections that are afforded to the members of groups and the vulnerabilities experienced by those who are excluded. By investigating the “us and them” dynamic that so often plays out in all of our lives and throughout history, students will be better prepared to analyze and understand the conditions that made the Armenian Genocide possible during the First World War.

Essential Questions

• What choices and conditions led to the genocide of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire during World War I?
• How can learning about these choices and conditions help us protect the most vulnerable groups in our society today?

Guiding Questions

• What is universe of obligation?
• What factors can expand or contract a society’s universe of obligation?
• What are the consequences for groups outside of a society’s universe of obligation?

Learning Objectives

• Students will begin to explain how the concept of universe of obligation provides a framework for understanding who receives the benefits and protections of belonging to a society and who is excluded.
• Students will be able to identify multiple factors that might contribute to the expansion or contraction of a society’s universe of obligation.
• Students will be able to apply the concept of universe of obligation to a community or group to which they belong.

See the Additional Context & Background section in the Google Doc version of this lesson plan for the essential historical knowledge needed to teach this lesson.

Lesson Plan

Activity 1: Reflect on Group Membership and Belonging

Ask students to respond in their journals to the following prompt:

Think about a group you belong to. It might be a group related to your gender, race, ethnicity, or religion. It might also be your family, a team, a classroom, an online community, or some other kind of group. How did you become a member of that group? To what extent did you choose to join it? What benefits and/or drawbacks are there to being a member of that group?

Briefly debrief the prompt by asking students to share some of the benefits and drawbacks they named to belonging to the groups to which they belong. Honor student privacy and refrain from requiring all students to share their responses in detail. You might even ask them to name benefits and drawbacks without specifying the particular group.

Activity 2: Introduce the Concept Universe of Obligation

Introduce the concept universe of obligation to students by first explaining that it is one way to consider the benefits of belonging to groups and the consequences of being excluded. 

The term was developed to describe who the members of a society believe should be protected by their society’s laws, customs, and norms. While originally conceived to consider what it means to belong in whole societies, we can also apply the idea of a universe of obligation to smaller-scale situations. Whose well-being and safety do we and other members of the communities and social groups to which we belong feel responsible for? People often feel a greater sense of responsibility for those who belong to the same groups that they do.

Hand out the reading Universe of Obligation and read it aloud. You might pause after each paragraph to check for understanding and ask students to underline one sentence in the paragraph that helps them better understand the benefits and costs of group membership or universe of obligation. Ask one or two students to share what they underlined and explain why before moving to the next paragraph.

After completing the reading, you might reinforce students’ understanding of the concept of universe of obligation by discussing the following questions with the group:

How might a group that is excluded from a society’s universe of obligation be impacted in each of the following occasions?:

• When the society creates laws and policies to provide protection for the safety and well-being of its citizenry.
• When the society creates laws and policies that distribute resources and wealth.
• When a shocking or terrible event has harmed the society as a whole.
• When violence or harm has occurred towards members of the excluded group.

Activity 3: Discuss the Factors that Influence a Society’s Universe of Obligation

In this activity, students will reflect on, then discuss some of the factors that influence a society’s universe of obligation.  

Explain to students that, according to Helen Fein, the universe of obligation in many societies is limited to the “dominant group”: the racial, ethnic, religious, or national group that has the most power. But she also believes that there are other factors that can influence a society’s universe of obligation to expand or contract, including solidarity between groups and values.

Give students 2–3 minutes to reflect on and respond to each of the following questions in their journals. Then divide them into groups of four to share their thinking using the Learn to Listen, Listen to Learn discussion strategy:

• Solidarity involves one group viewing the struggles and aspirations of another group as their own. When groups act in solidarity, they believe that when one group advances and thrives, the other group also benefits. How could solidarity be fostered to expand a society's universe of obligation?
• What are values? What are some examples of values that, if widely shared by members of society, would make its universe of obligation more inclusive? What are some values that, if widely shared, would make a society’s universe of obligation more exclusive?

Activity 4: Exit Ticket: Promoting an Inclusive Universe of Obligation

Finish the lesson by asking students to complete an exit ticket, responding to the following question to connect what they learned about universe of obligation to their own lives:

What can we do to expand our society’s or our community’s universe of obligation? Drawing from history, popular culture, current events, or your own experience, write about a concrete action someone has taken that helped expand their country’s or community’s universe of obligation. Before you answer, think about the factors we discussed in class that influence a society’s universe of obligation, including solidarity and shared values.