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Justification The course that I have designed is inspired by the attitudes that some Americans have developed toward people from foreign countries/foreign religions following the events of 9/11 and the second gulf war. There seems to be a climate in some of their homes/communities that allows for xenophobia/ intolerance. These people feel that their attitudes are justified because of the “attack on America.” I want to allow my students the opportunity to examine this issue a develop thoughtful opinions. To achieve this, I’ve created an online unit based on defining the enemy. I’ve focused on the attack on Pearl Harbor and the events of September 11, 2001, and the actions taken after each of these events, as well as the attitudes some people adopted toward different ethnic/religious groups during these times. More importantly (maybe) is how the united States government has reacted in these circumstances. I’ve started with the Pearl Harbor attacks and World War II. The novel Farewell to Manzanar is about a Japanese-American girl’s experience at an internment camp. I’ve also found websites with testimonials and even some footage of anti-Japanese (even Americans of Japanese descent) sentiment following the attack, plus lingering resentment that may still be around today. Also, we’ll look other cultural artifacts, editorials and films that reflect attitudes from this era. Next we’ll study the events of 9/11, talk about the backlash against Muslims/Arab Americans. Read a personal account from someone involved in the attack on 2 World Trade Center. Ponder the relationship between the two events and form opinions about the validity of negative feelings toward an entire country/ethnic group/ religious group. This unit was built upon a reader response and cultural studies approach. In addition, this unit incorporates multimodal learning. Students will experience a variety of media throughout their study.
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