Please review the descriptions and select one of the resources below to engage with for this unit’s passport assignment. The options are primarily documentaries, with a few films and AR/VR experiences mixed in. Each unit contains resources that are offered exclusively via a streaming service, but always contain at least one free, open-access resource. For the AR/VR experiences, I recommend purchasing a pair of Google Cardboard Glasses if you do not already own a pair of glasses (this is totally optional, though!).
The purpose of the passport assignment is to present visually multiple aspects of a given region’s space. This may include economic, political, social, or environmental space. There are endless locations and spatial aspects in a given region to delve into, but the resources here are meant to reflect what you have learned in this unit’s reading and discussed in this unit’s discussion forum.
You may submit your response in either written, audio, or video format. Please review the grading rubric prior to beginning your assignment to ensure you meet the expectation for a given format. For written submissions, simply select “add attachment” below. For video or audio submissions, select “record audio” or “record video” below.
You must respond in-depth to each of the following as you engage with the resource, so you may want to jot down notes or thoughts as you view your selection:
Provide a brief overview of your selected video:
You should make it clear you watched the entire video or completed the full experience. Please discuss in your own words, and do not copy from any outside description of the material. Maintain a level of formality whether responding in text, audio, or video format.
What were the most important things you learned from this video?
Discuss a few things you learned or learned more about from this video or experience. You may respond in the first person. Be sure to check for grammar and spelling if writing or maintain a level of formality in your language if responding in audio or video format.
What impacted you most from this video, or how did it change your views or perspective?
Describe what impacted you most from this video or experience and/or how this video or experience changed your views or offered new insight or a new perspective. This may include your feelings or general reactions. Consider what surprised (or shocked) you. You may respond in first-person. Be sure to check for grammar and spelling if writing or maintain a level of formality in your language if responding in audio or video format.
Resource selection and description for Unit Six- Sub-Saharan Africa:
Vice New: War in the Central African Republic
The Central African Republic’s capital of Bangui saw its Muslim population drop from 130,000 to under 1,000 over just a few months. Thousands across CAR have been killed and nearly a million have been displaced. The United Nations recently stated that the entire Western half of the country has now been cleansed of Muslims. CAR had no real history of religious violence, and the current conflict is not based on any religious ideology. The fighting, however, turned increasingly sectarian in the fall of 2013, with revenge killings becoming the norm.
Amazon Prime: Stolen Seas
Stolen Seas presents a chilling exploration of the Somali pirate phenomenon and forces you to rethink everything you thought you knew about pirates.
PBS: Stealing Africa
Rüschlikon is a village in Switzerland with a very low tax rate and very wealthy residents, but it receives more tax revenue than it can use. This is largely thanks to one resident: Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of Glencore, whose copper mines in Zambia are not generating a large bounty tax revenue for the Zambians. Zambia has the 3rd largest copper reserves in the world, but 60% of the population live on less than $1 a day and 80% are unemployed. Based on original research into public documents, Stealing Africa is an investigative story of global trade and political corruption where money and natural resources only flow one way, and in the meantime, poverty becomes harder to escape.
VR Experience (Available via the Within App): This is Climate Change: Famine
Travel into the arid expanse of Somalia, where crushing drought is placing an entire generation of children at great risk. To access, download the Within App (free) and search for “This is Climate Change: Famine”. Select to “stream” or “download” and watch using your VR glasses. (If using Google Cardboard glasses, insert into cardboard at this point.)
The Twist Option… I have spent endless hours researching a range of options for the Passport Assignments, but there are certain chapter that I am always looking for additional and updated recommendations for. To that end, similar to last week, you are welcome to find your own documentary to view for this unit. You will have to send me the link first so I can quickly vet the option (only at jmura@broward.edu) and then you will complete the usual write up (see above). I think there are some good suggestions for this unit, but again, I invite your suggestion as well. I am especially looking for any docs that represent the region in the opposite view typically depicted in popular entertainment.
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