This guide is an invitation to dialogue. It is based on a belief in the power of human connection and designed for people who want to use On Her Shoulders to engage family, friends, classmates, colleagues and communities. In contrast to initiatives that foster debates in which participants try to convince others that they are right, this document envisions conversations undertaken in a spirit of openness in which people try to understand one another and expand their thinking by sharing viewpoints and listening actively.

The discussion prompts are intentionally crafted to help a wide range of audiences think more deeply about the issues in the film. Rather than attempting to address them all, choose one or two that best meet your needs and interests. And be sure to leave time to consider taking action. Planning next steps can help people leave the room feeling energized and optimistic, even in instances when conversations have been difficult.

For more detailed event planning and facilitation tips, visit amdoc.org/engage.

The Masses is a short film that follows three seemingly divergent stories through the daily rituals of three men. It portrays the three South London neighbors’ devotion to their respective religions: Islam, Christianity and Football. By choosing these three men in particular, the filmmaker asks us to consider our assumptions about our neighbors, strangers, and ourselves.

OBJECTIVES

Through this lesson, students will:

• Identify categories that contribute to social identity
• Explore how identity relates to group affiliation, action, morals and values
• Reflect on personal identity characteristics and social behavior

MATERIALS:

• The short film, Redneck Muslim
• Teacher Resources: markers/chart, internet access
• Student Handouts: “Redneck Muslim: Film Notes,” “Redneck Muslim: Discussion Questions,” “Identity Map,” and "Journal Prompt"

ESTIMATED TIME:

One 50-minute class period, with take-home assignments

Over the course of 60 years, entomologists Charlie and Lois O’Brien amassed a collection of more than 1 million insects from nearly 70 countries - the largest private collection in the world, with a value of 10 million dollars. But, as Charlie’s battle with Parkinson’s becomes increasingly pronounced, he and Lois, 90, make the difficult decision to give away their drawers full of iridescent weevils and planthoppers. This humorous and poignant film explores the Love of Nature - and the Nature of Love - and what it means to devote oneself completely to both.

Bouchard, Patrice, editor. The Book of Beetles: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred of Nature's Gems.University of Chicago Press, 2014.
Celebrates the beauty and diversity of this marvelous insect. Six hundred significant beetle species are covered, with each entry featuring a distribution map, basic biology, conservation status, and information on cultural and economic significance. Full-color photos show the beetles both at their actual size and enlarged to show details, such as the sextet of spots that distinguish the six-spotted tiger beetle or the jagged ridges of the giant-jawed sawyer beetle. Based in the most up-to-date science and accessibly written, the descriptive text will appeal to researchers and armchair coleopterists alike.

Eaton, Eric R. and Kenn Kaufman.Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007.
The Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America was quickly embraced by amateur entomologists and by professional naturalists and educators for its thorough, accurate, non-technical treatment of this continent's insect fauna. Most people pay scant attention to insects (except perhaps as sources of annoyance), so they are unaware of the dazzling variety of insect life that can be found even in a suburban yard or small city park. Just in the United States and Canada there are close to 90,000 different species of insects, including nearly 11,000 kinds of moths and over 25,000 kinds of beetles, all with their own color patterns, forms, and habits.

Eisner, Thomas. For Love of Insects. Belknap, 2005.
Imagine beetles ejecting defensive sprays as hot as boiling water; female moths holding their mates for ransom; caterpillars disguising themselves as flowers by fastening petals to their bodies; termites emitting a viscous glue to rally fellow soldiers—and you will have entered an insect world once beyond imagining, a world observed and described down to its tiniest astonishing detail by Thomas Eisner. Filled with descriptions of his ingenious experiments and illustrated with photographs unmatched for their combination of scientific content and delicate beauty, Eisner’s book makes readers participants in the grand adventure of discovery on a scale infinitesimally small, and infinitely surprising.

Evans, Dr. Arthur V., National Wildlife Federation, Field Guide to Insects and Spiders and Related Species of North America, National Wildlife Federation Press, 2007 updated.
Enjoy this reference guide to insects and spiders for the beginning entomologist to explore further with detailed information on starting a collection, planting an arthropod garden, keeping insects and spiders in captivity, and learning macro photography techniques. More than 2,000 close-up color photographs by leading nature photographers distinguish each creature, with clear and concise text that accompanies each image describes the range, habitat, life cycle, and behavior.

MacNeal, David. Bugged: The Insects Who Rule the World and the People Obsessed with Them. St. Martin's Press, 2017.
Insects have been shaping our ecological world and plant life for over 400 million years. In fact, our world is essentially run by bugs—there are 1.4 billion for every human on the planet. Journalist David MacNeal takes us on an off-beat scientific journey that weaves together history, travel, and culture in order to define our relationship with these mini-monsters. MacNeal introduces a cast of bug-lovers—from a woman facilitating tarantula sex and an exterminator nursing bedbugs (on his own blood), to a kingpin of the black market insect trade and a “maggotologist” — who obsess over the crucial role insects play in our everyday lives.

McGavin, George C. Essential Entomology: An Order-by-order Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2001.
An up-to-date order-by-order introduction and reference handbook for students of biological sciences in general and entomology in particular. Covers all the important groups on a worldwide basis and explains what makes insects successful. The book is in three sections: first is a straightforward introduction to insect biology; followed by a section on field work; lastly an order-by-order catalog of the insects giving essential facts and details of life-histories, highlighting what makes each order distinct. To make the material as accessible as possible, the information for each order is presented in a standard manner and is written in a straighforward style with as little technical language as possible. Essential terms are fully explained in context with marginal notes. A pictoral guide, specially commissioned by Richard Lewington, is included to aid in the identification of the orders.

White, Richard E. A Field Guide to the Beetles of North America. Houghton Mifflin, 1983.
Over 600 drawings and 65 color paintings portray representative species of the 111 families of North American beetles. Includes information on collecting and preserving beetles.

An old shepherd and his flock live alongside a high-tech laboratory for animal experimentation. Two worlds that are two sides of the same coin. While the shepherd, afflicted with a bone disease, witnesses his profession disappearing, scientists are busier than ever researching the COVID vaccine. Fauna explores the relationship between humans, animals and science in post-pandemic times.

The Love Bugs is a love story about soulmates and science. Two renowned, married, entomologists facing their twilight years seek to pass on their knowledge--with a little help from their 1.25 million insects. Over 60 years, Lois and Charlie O'Brien, two of the foremost entomologists and pioneers in their field, traveled to more than 65 countries and quietly amassed the world's most extensive private collection of insects. Their collection is a scientific game-changer with 1.25 million specimens and more than 1,000 undiscovered species. He was the Indiana Jones of entomology, and she was his Marion Ravenwood. However, in the past few years, the O'Briens have grappled with increasingly debilitating health conditions.

Though Charlie, 85, and Lois, 91, realize that a chapter of exploration and discovery is coming to an end in their lives, they live in a time when science needs them most. They turn to their insects to preserve their legacy and in support of science. This humorous and poignant documentary short explores the Nature of Love - and the love of Nature -and what it means to devote oneself entirely to both.

In this lesson, students will examine the careers of diverse scientists, and specifically learn about the nature of the work of entomologists. Following the film’s screening, students will imagine that they, themselves, are entomologists and study “insects” and their natural environments.

Objectives:
In this lesson, students will:

• Learn that the field of science is broad and that scientists come from diverse backgrounds and identities
• Be introduced to science of entomology
• Learn about the work of entomologists
• Engage in an activity modeling the work of entomologists
• Reflect and discuss the importance of nature, insects, and relationships to the land

Materials:
For this lesson, you will need:

• Objects to use as pretend “insects”
  • Suggestions: Dried pinto beans, black beans, and/or different types of pasta (rotini, spaghetti, elbow macaroni)
• Student Notebooks
• Drawing Materials
• Separate pieces of drawing paper for each student
• Non-breakable collection container such as a plastic (tip: you can recycle take-out containers, cottage cheese containers, etc)
• English Bug Kite Instructions
• High-speed internet connection for screening the film
• A way to screen The Love Bugs (screening time: 32 minutes)

Time Needed:

Two or Three 60-minute class period with homework and an option for students to share their writing.

"You can’t write about a world if you don’t study it, and the best way to study it is to live in it."

Leila Mottley

In a love letter to the Bay Area, two teenage artists spend a day in creative and community fellowship.

HELPFUL CONCEPTS:

gentrification – The socioeconomic process whereby people who are of a higher income level, education-level, and/or racial make-up move into lower-income neighborhoods and cause increased rents and prices, changes to community character and culture, and the departure of many long-term residents, many of whom are people of color

intersectionality – a term coined by scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw that highlights the overlap between forms of oppression based on multiple identities (e.g., race and gender)

FILM PARTICIPANTS:

Leila Mottley and Ajai Kasim – two Oakland teenagers who share a love of writing and music and spend their time exploring their city and creating art together

NOTE TO TEACHERS:

This assignment invites students to explore their own identities and creative forms of expression. Writing in this way can be an intimate exercise in vulnerability, so it is important that you have established a safe, non-judgmental, and respectful learning environment. Remind students that writing and being creative is sometimes a risky task and that they should be encouraging and supportive of one another.

View the trailer hereand sign up to receive updates here.

After years of fighting injustice in Kenya, daring and audacious political activist Boniface “Softie” Mwangi decides to run for political office. But running a clean campaign against corrupt opponents with idealism as his only weapon proves challenging.

After years of fighting injustice in Kenya, daring and audacious political activist Boniface “Softie” Mwangi decides to run for political office. But running a clean campaign against corrupt opponents with idealism as his only weapon proves challenging. Special Jury Award, Sundance Film Festival. A POV co-production.

Non-Book Information

• Boniface Mwangi’s twitter
• Boniface Mswangi’s Website
• Getty Museum Boniface Mwangi Stock Pictures and Images
• New Yorker article: Kenya’s Most Famous Critic of Politicians Runs for Political Office by Tristan McConnell July 10, 2017
• Boniface Mwangi on TED | The Day I stood Up Alone (2015) and TED profile

“Kenyans do not get serviced by their government,” states Khadija Mohammed, political campaign manager to MP candidate and filmmaker, Boniface Mwangii. This lesson provides a framework for a critical analysis of elections in Kenya and how colonialism, tribalism, and voter suppression frame the political landscape of the African nation.

A Note from Curriculum Creator, Vivett Dukes

As citizens, we rely on our government to protect and provide for us. The upkeep of this sovereign contract is what fuels our collective and individual sense of patriotism and nationalism; but, what happens when one or both parties violate that contract? What happens when that contract was unequal from the start? What recourse do citizens have when their government refuses to fulfill their part of the agreement? Through the viewing of Softie, we see how one man, Boniface “Softie” Mwangi of Kenya, attempts to disrupt the status quo that is marring the lives of Kenya’s impoverished, working class, and middle class citizens, by entering the political sphere. Considering the political times in which we are currently living, this is a crucial lesson plan to teach. Teaching is never a politically neutral practice, and neither is learning or sharing knowledge.

Subject Areas

• Government and Economics
• Global History/Global Studies
• Women’s Studies/Gender Studies
• Language Arts
• Marriage and Family (and other Sociology and Psychology-based electives)
• Humanities

Grade Levels: 9-12

Objectives:

• In this lesson, students will:
• Critically analyze the hallmarks of a democracy
• Assess and evaluate aspects of grassroots organizing and social movements
• Respond verbally and in writing to a variety of questions varying in complexity (e.g., recall, basic reasoning, analysis, synthesis, and interpretation)
• Exhibit and hone active listening skills by practicing question-based, class-wide dialogue

Materials

*include relevant technology options for remote-instruction.

• Softie documentary clips
• Computer/Laptop/Tablet
• K-W-L chart
• Notebook
• Writing Utensil

Time Needed

Two to four 45-minute class periods with optional homework in between.

A true story of young immigrants who get detained by U.S. Border Patrol—on purpose—and put in a shadowy for-profit detention center. Marco and Viri are members of a group of radical Dreamers on a mission to stop deportations, and they believe the best place to do that is in detention.

The Infiltrators,directed by Cristina Ibarra and Alex Rivera, is a true story about a rag-tag group of undocumented youth - Dreamers - deliberately get detained by Border Patrol in order to infiltrate a shadowy, for-profit detention center.

Adult Nonfiction

Arce, Julissa.My (underground) American Dream: My True Story as an Undocumented Immigrant Who Became a Wall Street Executive.Center Street, 2016.
For an undocumented immigrant, what is the true cost of the American dream? Julissa Arce shares her story in a riveting memoir. When she was 11 years old Julissa Arce left Mexico, and came to the United States on a tourist visa to be reunited with her parents, who dreamed the journey would secure her a better life. When her visa expired at the age of 15, she became an undocumented immigrant. Thus, began her underground existence, a decades long game of cat and mouse, tremendous family sacrifice, and fear of exposure.

Bixler, Mark.The Lost Boys of the Sudan: An American Story of the Refugee Experience.University of Georgia Press. 2006.
Jacob Magot, Peter Anyang, Daniel Khoch, and Marko Ayii were among 150 or so Lost Boys who were resettled in Atlanta. Like most of their fellow refugees, they had never before turned on a light switch, used a kitchen appliance, or ridden in a car or subway train-much less held a job or balanced a checkbook. We relive their early excitement and disorientation, their growing despondency over fruitless job searches, adjustments they faced upon finally entering the workforce, their experiences of post-9/11 xenophobia, and their undying dreams of acquiring an education.

Coan, Peter M.Toward a Better Life: America’s New Immigrants in Their Own Words: From Ellis Island to the Present.Prometheus Books, 2011.
This book offers a balanced, poignant, and often moving portrait of America's immigrants over more than a century. The author has organized the book by decades so that readers can easily find the time period most relevant to their experience or that of family members. The first part covers the Ellis Island era, the second part America's new immigrants-from the closing of Ellis Island in 1955 to the present.

Cornejo Villavicencio, Karla.The Undocumented Americans.One World, 2020.
Looking well beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the DREAMERS, Cornejo Villavicencio explores the lives of the undocumented as rarely seen in our daily headlines. In New York, we meet the undocumented workers who were recruited in the federally funded Ground Zero cleanup after 9/11. In Miami we enter the hidden botanicas, which offer witchcraft and homeopathy to those whose status blocks them from any other healthcare options. In Flint, Michigan, we witness how many live in fear as the government issues raids at grocery stores and demands identification before offering life-saving clean water.

Motomura, Hiroshi.Americans in Waiting: The Lost Story of Immigration and Citizenship in the United States.Oxford University Press, 2007.
In Americans in Waiting, Hiroshi Motomura looks to a forgotten part of our past to show how, for over 150 years, immigration was assumed to be a transition to citizenship, with immigrants essentially being treated as future citizens--Americans in waiting. Challenging current conceptions, the author deftly uncovers how this view, once so central to law and policy, has all but vanished.

Urrea, Luis Alberto.The Devil’s Highway: A True Story.Back Bay Books, 2004.
In May 2001, a group of men attempted to cross the Mexican border into the desert of southern Arizona, through the deadliest region of the continent, the “Devil’s Highway.” Three years later, Luis Alberto Urrea wrote about what happened to them. The result was a national bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, a “book of the year” in multiple newspapers, and a work proclaimed as a modern American classic.