Understanding the Conditions that Lead to “Ethnic Cleansing"
Duration
One 50-min class periodSubject
- Social Studies
Grade
6–12Language
English — USPublished
Overview
About This Lesson
In 2017, the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic group in majority Buddhist Myanmar, have been attacked, driven from their homes, and often killed by the military as part of what observers are calling a campaign of ethnic cleansing. This lesson will help students understand the news from Myanmar by asking them to read and analyze a September 2017 article from the New York Times. The article will introduce them to key concepts such as nation and self-determination and explain the relationship of these ideas to the conditions that make ethnic cleansing possible.
For additional background on the history of the Rohingya and the events leading up to the 2017 crisis, read The “Ethnic Cleansing” of the Rohingya from the Washington Post. Look for additional lessons from Facing History about the ongoing persecution of the Rohingya in coming weeks. Also, teachers might need to pre-teach the following terms if students have not yet been exposed to them in previous lessons or units: alien, disenfranchise, genocide, nation vs. state, self-determination, and sovereign.