Persecution and Protest: Active Listening in the Language Classroom

1. Persecution and Protest:Active Listening in the Language Classroom “As in mastering a language one [has] to learn not just the literal meaning of words but also their connotations, and to grasp those one [has] to know the politics and economic systems and histories of the place” Tracy Kidder on Paul Farmer Arpillera by Violeta Morales in Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love: The Arpillera Movement in Chile 1974-1994.

2. Teaching human rights through a multi-media project • Bringing human rights issues into the foreign language class: a film based approach • Contextualizing the films’ depiction of human rights abuses • Further investigating human rights abuses through other cultural expressions • Desired Outcomes

3. Bringing human rights issues into the foreign language class: a film based approach • Why it is appropriate • American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Standards: Community, Connections, Culture, Comparisons, Communication • Wide range of human rights issues that affect Latin American culture

4. Contextualizing the issues of human rights in the film • Analyzing current web sites, students expand their knowledge of civil war, immigration and the Disappeared in Latin America by examining the historical and sociopolitical contexts.

5. Further investigating human rights abuses through other cultural expressions • Students interpret, analyze and discuss related works of art and literature that depict abuses and solutions to conflicts in Guatemala, Argentina and Chile.

6. Desired Outcomes • Participation in service learning projects on the local and international level • Assimilation of new found knowledge and engagement in the political process

7. La historia oficial in a first year Spanish language class. • http://www2.bc.edu/~rusch/ho.html • Before viewing • While viewing • After viewing activities • The Disappeared in poetry and arpilleras

8. Pre-viewing on the Web • Investigate historical context of movie • Acquire background on Dirty War in Argentina and the human rights abuses in Chile under Pinochet’s dictatorship • Introduce to the term “Disappeared” • Listen to the song “Ellas danzan solas (They dance alone)” by Sting • Consider different meanings of historia in Spanish: story versus history

9. While Viewing : Questions on the web • Students fill in chart about the movie characters’ social classes and occupations. • Students recall two critical moments in the film.

10. After Viewing • Students consider the sociopolitical backgrounds of the main characters and speculate on their actions and motivations. • Students analyze the form of protest by the Madres/Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo. • Students learn about the former School of the Americas (SOA), now renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC), and read contrasting post 9-11 editorials about whether it should be closed. Students must then take a position on the issue and defend it. • Students are asked to decide what should be done to those who participated in government sponsored crimes against humanity.

11. After Viewing – a selection of students’ comments • “As explained by Father Roy, the WHISC has, at the very least, inadvertently supported terrorism and human rights violations in Central and South America. In essence it has been a partner in generating a conflagration by adding fuel to burning embers.” • “…regardless of [WHISC’s] stated goals, there are far too many examples of how the program has been manipulated for bad ends. Numerous graduates of the program … are only the more dangerous due to the program” • “ The officials say that they have closed the SOA and opened the WHISC with new goals, organizations and tactics. They cite their priority as controlling drug trafficking yet only 8% of students take pertinent courses to that goal. The problems in South and Central America are not going to be solved by teaching combat tactics. Instead, we need to help build up the economy and infrastructure to foster a stable society.” • “The realist in me . . . sees no nonviolent substitution for the WHISC as long as there are combating military groups in Latin America. Does it need heavy reform? YES! Create a curriculum that stresses respect for human life. Create an ethical code like that of doctors. . .” • “ … to say that perpetrators of human rights violations should be pardoned is saying that human rights are not worth protecting.”

12. The Disappeared in poetry and arpilleras • Examine arpilleras made by Chilean women • Compare to public protests by women in Chile and Argentina • Consider how a traditional skill is transformed into a means of protest • Discuss the poems “Una disculpa“ and “Memorial de las locas en la Plaza de Mayo” from Absence of Shadows by Marjorie Agosín • Examine the themes of exile and protest • Discuss connections made in poems between the Dirty War, the Civil Wars in Central America and the Holocaust

13. El Norte in a second year Spanish language class. • http://www2.bc.edu/~rusch/elnorte.html • Before viewing • While viewing • After viewing • Art and literature: Representing civil war, immigration, border crossing

14. Before viewing activities on the Web • Define and discuss refugio político, laguerra civil guatemalteca, la inmigración in relation to the film • Discuss geography of the area and the cultural and ethnic profile of the victims of the massacre. • Discuss possible reasons for seeking refuge in the United States and contemplate possible difficulties that political refugees (certainly Rosa and Enrique from El Norte) might confront: • on reaching the border • on crossing the border • on arriving in a United States border town

15. While Viewing • Complete on-line activities • Comprehension check: • Understanding of language • Plot/action • Characters • Imagery and symbolism

16. After Viewing • Examination of the portrayal of stereotypes in film • Comparison between atrocities committed in a real town (Panzos, Guatemala) and those portrayed in the film • Roles of the United States, the Catholic Church, Cuba and the Cold War in Guatemala’s civil war • UNHCR (ACNUR): Refugees today around the globe; legal protection and solutions

17. Art and literature: Representing civil war, immigration, border crossing. • “La frontera” (mural) by Victor Ochoa • “Alaíde” (poem) by Otto Raúl González • “Tres canciones para mi madre” (poem) by Julia Esquivel

18. References Student quotations taken from assignments from Boston College Elementary Spanish class and are used with permission. Agosin, Marjorie. An Absence of Shadows.. Trans. Celeste Kostopoulos-Cooperman et al. Ferdonia, NY: White Pines P, 1996. Esquivel, Julia. “Tres canciones para mi madre.” Florecerás Guatemala. Mexico: Ediciones CUSPA, 1989. 380. González, Otto Raúl. “Alaíde” (poem), by Las armas de la luz. Antología de la poesía contemporánea de la América Central. Ed. Alfonso Chase. San José: Departamento de Ecuménico de Investigaciones., 1985. 400-402. Kidder, Tracy Mountains Beyond Mountains. New York: Random House, 2004. 174. Ochoa, Victor. La frontera. 1994. August 24, 2005. <http://www.calacapress.com/chicanozauruz/chiczaur-paintings.html>. Official Story, the [La historia oficial]. Dir. Luis Puenzo. 1985. Videocassette. Fox Lorber, 1995. Morales, Violeta “Where are the? Dead or Alive.” Tapestries of hope, Threads of Love: The Arpillera Movement in Chile 1974-1994. By Marjorie Agosin. Albuquerque: U of New Mexico P, 1996. 82. Norte, el. Dir.Gregory Nava. Arrow, 1983.