Globalization: An Introduction

Unit 1: Activities

Activity 1: “How do you know what's true?”

OUTCOMES:

1. To establish the rules of evidence
2. To establish that privileged groups create the master-narratives and the exploited create counter-narratives
3. Privileged groups have the power to define reality
4. One must consider marginalized voices in order to establish what is true

TERMS: Master-narrative, Counter-narrative, Privileged, Marginalized, Empire, Power, Senegal, Non-fiction

ARTIFACTS: A People's History of American Empire, Histoire Du Senegal: Le Senegal Et Leopold Sedar Senghor

PROCEDURES: Establishing the “Rules of Evidence” (Teacher can decide to use this as a discussion, writing assignment, etc.)

• Use the following questions to discuss how we decide what to use as evidence for our study.

•  How do you know if something is true?

Possible responses:  “It's in the book, it’s on-line, the teacher told me, I
observed it, etc.”

• Is personal experience enough to say that something is true? (for example, if I say that that all poor people are black because all poor people I've seen are black, does it mean the statement is true?)

• How do you verify if something is true?

• Examples of “truth”
• Compare the artifacts A People's History of the American Empire and the Histoire Du Senegal: Le Senegal Et Leopold Sedar Senghor (Use the books as props, they don’t have to read it)
• These two books both tell history, both from two very different perspectives.  One is calling America an Empire and the other is focusing on the importance of Senegal’s first president after independence.
• How do we determine which perspectives are true?
• Who has the power in each society to define what is true?

Key Points
We are proposing that students take the perspective that when discussing issues of poverty they must take into consideration the lives and voices of the marginalized.  While large banks, corporations, governments etc. may say they deal with poverty and are working to make the world more fair and equitable, we must examine the material conditions of the exploited and base our conclusions on their reality.