DAY FIVE | Stage 4: Dehumanization

STUDENTS WILL:

Demonstrate prior knowledge about the term/concept of genocide and on historical examples of genocide on a unit Pre-Test.

Comprehend both key terms and concepts of this unit, specifically the term genocide and the terms and concepts of the 10 Stages of Genocide.

Reflect on and Write about the big question of this unit: Am I Supposed to Care about Genocide?

 

STUDENT WORKSHEETS | RESOURCES NEEDED

5-1) Definitions of 10 Stages of Genocide
5-2) Video of Radio Rwanda broadcast from 1994, with translated captions
5-3) Video of Freddy Mutanguha
- (Alternative Option) Paper version of Freddy’s testimony clip
5-4) Pyramid of Hate


LESSON SEQUENCE

  • Listen to/Watch video of Radio Rwanda broadcast from YouTube (see link), and ask students why they thought the broadcast referred to Tutsis (members of a minority ethnic group in the country who became victims in a 1994 genocide) as “cockroaches.”

  • Review definition of DEHUMANIZATION stage from the 10 Stages of Genocide.

  • Discuss the radio broadcast with students again and help them see it as an example of DEHUMANIZATION from a real occurrence of genocide from 1994.

  • Watch video of Freddy Mutanguha from IWitness in which he talks about being called “cockroaches” before an act of violence at his school took place.

  • Distribute copies of the Pyramid of Hate, and explain that the pyramid shows at a more personal level how small acts grow in a community.

  • Ask students how the Pyramid of Hate is like the 10 Stages of Genocide, and how it can help students know how and when to take action in their own lives and communities. Ask students how the Pyramid of Hate could be used as a way to know what to do and/or when to act in school in a situation like the one described by Freddy Mutanguha.


Activity Length

One (1) 50-minute class periods