ABSTRACT
Context: TE Secondary, Multicultural Education, 7-12, Univeristy NCSS Standards: I (Culture), II (Time, Continuity, and Change), III (People, Places, and En-
vironments), IX (Global Connections) INTASC Standards: 1 (Subject Matter Expertise), 5 (Motivation and Classroom Manage-
ment) Topics: global education, perspective consciousness, Africa, primary sources, historical
understanding, history, literature, indigenous peoples, racism, crtical thinking, multiple perspectives
I teach this lesson1 to demonstrate one way to teach perspective consciousness, an element of both multicultural and global education that Hanvey (1982) described as “the recognition or awareness on the part of the individual that he or she has a view of the world that is not universally shared, that this view of the world has been and continues to be shaped by infl uences that oft en escape conscious detection, and that others have views of the world that are profoundly diff erent from one’s own” (p. 162). Th e lesson is also aimed at helping students recognize what the infusion of African perspectives can add to the study of the continent. Debriefi ng the lesson raises questions about voice and representation, and historical truth vs. interpretation. Th e lesson usually opens people’s minds to the realization that people in other cultures oft en see events and issues quite diff erently from mainstream American interpretations found in most texts and media.
