Asia

Light and Shadows: Unit 4: 2,700 Years Since Cyrus

Summary

Unit 4 focuses on the recent history of Iranian Jews, with special emphasis on the challenges and opportunities facing communities in transition. Students are introduced to Iranian naming traditions while they research naming customs of their own heritage; they consider generational issues and concerns that may exist in their own families and neighborhoods; they articulate a set of shared values and then create a decorative case for them; and as a culminating artmaking activity students consider elements of their identity that they feel they must conceal, and yet at the same time may reveal. 

Light and Shadows: Unit 3: Order and Organization / Tradition and Ritual

Summary

The cultural and religious life of the Iranian Jewish community is the focus of Unit 3. Students explore protective amulets, traditions of decorative designs drawn on the hand, and the all-important celebration of Purim and Queen Esther. 

Light and Shadows: Unit 2: Life in the Mahale

Summary

Lessons in Unit 2 focus on the cultural identity of the Iranian Jewish community, as well as challenges some members have faced across time. Students investigate the shared traditions of the “peoples of the book”; are introduced to the story of Iranian Mashadi Jews who were forced to convert to Islam in 1839 and then take on “double lives” as Jewish/Muslim; explore poetry traditions of Persia; and create chalk versions of Iranian-inspired rugs. 

Light and Shadows: Unit 1: History of Iranian Jews

Summary

Students are introduced to the long history of Iranian Jews, beginning with their exile to Persia in the eighth century BCE, to the modern history of Jews in Iran and Diaspora communities in Israel and the United States. Lessons focus on students’ study of a historical timeline; issues around mapping and borders; discussions centered on human rights, especially the human rights declaration by Cyrus the Great in the eighth century BCE; and international policies and actions pertaining to refugees.

Curriculum Resource Unit for Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews

About the Exhibition

Light and Shadows: The Story of Iranian Jews examines one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities with some members entering Iran nearly 3,000 years ago. As Iran’s oldest religious minority, the Jewish community has

Art of Rice: Unit 4: Rice, Self, State and What's Ahead

Summary:

As they continue exploring the pervasiveness of rice culture in Asia, students learn of more rice-related customs in events of life-passage, state, and the economy. They will analyze factors that led to critical rice shortages and evaluate methods developed to increase production. As students study the "green revolution" they will assess present day techniques from often-conflicting points of view. Contemporary art pieces stimulate further discussion.

Art of Rice: Unit 3: Rice Agriculture-Cycle and Spread

Summary:

Students may try their skill at growing the grain as they learn about the key role of water in the growing of both "wet" and "dry" rice. After studying the ritual calendar upon which daily and cyclical activities are based, each may construct a personal calendar inspired by the elaborately pictorial one used by Balinese rice growers.

Art of Rice: Unit 2: Celebrating Rice, Celebrating Life

Summary:

This unit emphasizes the central role played by rice in festivals and foodways, proverbs and by-products. Students will recognize the importance of this grain throughout the lives of the people and are offered a sampling of their traditional recipes.

Art of Rice: Unit 1: The Sacred Grain

Summary

Students will be introduced to the cultural significance office to the people of Asia. They will explore the roles of rice deities as portrayed in various Asian countries and engage in activities centered on the role of animals and the importance of the rice granaries, storehouses of the sacred grain.

Curriculum Resource Unit for The Art of Rice: Spirit and Sustenance

Summary:

Rice is a staple food for more than three billion people, mostly in Asia, but this staggering statistic only hints at the cultural significance this grain has for the diverse peoples of South, Southeast, and East Asia. This curriculum investigates the complex ways rice culture informs the expressive arts bridging sacred, secular, agricultural, political and economic domains.