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The sand diggers of Mali

Lesson three: Practical task

The aim of this lesson is to replicate one aspect of Jane's research on a small and simple scale, which you can conduct during the course of a single lesson in the school grounds or classroom.

Key Questions

What are the issues for young people in Bamako?

What are the issues for young people here?

Are the issues what you thought they would be?

Are the issues similar between your local area and Bamako?

Starter

What do you think are the issues for young people in Bamako?

Listen to Jane's recording again. Can you pull out an issue?

What are the hopes for the future of the youth of Bamako?

Main Activity

Your teacher will recap the fieldwork techniques used by Jane Labous in Mali.

What are the main issues for young people in your local area or your school? You might like to categorise these into scales depending on how important they are to you. How might the youth of Bamako rate the issues that are important to them?

Which local, national and global issues do your local area and Bamako have in common?

Thinking about your local area, are young voices heard in your society, especially about issues such as migration and rights?

If you were going to look into urbanisation and migration in your local area, what fieldwork might you do? What methods and equipment could you use? What are the ethics of fieldwork based on subjects such as migration?

As a class, plan with your teacher a fieldwork session that you could do in your local area that looks at these issues.