Combating Prejudices
(examples of techniques of intercultural education
realised in Czech schools)
Varianty – Intercultural Education project
People in Need – Czech TV Foundation
Prague 2003
2
List of Contents:
Foreword ......................................................................................................... 3
Sunglasses ....................................................................................................... 4
Ritual of body – Nacirema tribe .................................................................... 11
Labelling ........................................................................................................ 16
The First Impression ...................................................................................... 18
Playing an Anthropologist ............................................................................. 20
About the Project ........................................................................................... 24
About us ........................................................................................................ 26
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
3
Foreword
The following five activities have been selected from the publication „Intercultural Education –
a handbook not only for secondary school teachers“, which was created within the framework of
Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in Need Foundation, Prague.
The handbook serves as a methodology tool as well as a source of information to Czech teachers
who want to implement intercultural issues into their lessons. In the Czech context, intercultural
education is treated as an interdisciplinary approach; consequently, as there is no specific subject
concerned with this thematic field, teachers of all subjects (primarily of civic education, history,
geography, but also of others) are to include relevant topics and principles in their lessons as far
as the school curriculum allows.
The character of the activities reflects the multicultural situation in the Czech Republic: there
exist numerous socio-cultural (conceived of as national or ethnical) minorities here, relatively
small in numbers; and a large majority, the members of which build their identity also primarily
on the notion of ethnicity. Not surprisingly, racism and xenophobia, often based on implicit or
explicit nationalism, are the main problems of Czech majority society at present. As a
consequence, the crucial issues that intercultural education tends to tackle in this context include,
above all, deconstruction of stereotypes and uprooting of prejudices aimed at the minorities.
Thus, the objective of this collection is to provide insight into the character of techniques that are
realised in Czech schools, and, hopefully, to serve as a source of inspiration. Nevertheless, the
activities were not originally designed to be used in other countries in the form presented –
adaptation to a concrete situation and to the respective multicultural context would be probably
necessary. Readers should also bear in mind that the texts have been translated from Czech and
also had to be modified in certain minor aspects (some typical elements of the Czech culture have
been generalised) so that even though this is to be considered a representative sample of the
content of the above mentioned handbook, the original texts may prove to be slightly different.
Tomáš Jacko
Jan Buryánek
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
4
Sunglasses
Objectives
Students

do not consider diversity in general as a negative phenomenon

can mention two examples of how facing diversity can be useful

are able to admit, appreciate, and use in order to support co-operative work, a stronger
argument

understand the principles and manifestations of socio-cultural diversity
Number of students
arbitrary
Timing
3O minutes
Teaching aids, materials
A sufficient number of copies of the „Sunglasses“ text (it is desirable to make a little booklet
out of the text: cut it into pieces matching the individual paragraphs, and staple them together
so that the students can turn over the „pages“).
Description, instructions
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
5
1. Enter the classroom with coloured sunglasses on. Ask the students following or similar
questions:
 What happens to the world when you look at it through coloured glasses?
 Have you ever met anybody who „viewed“ the same thing in a different way than
you?
 What were the reasons?
 Could the misunderstanding have been prevented?
2. Read the text together, paragraph by paragraph, with a discussion after each. Make sure
that everybody understands the text; motivate the students to give concrete examples and
parallels.
Paragraph 1

What does the author mean by yellow glasses?

What will the following part of the text be about?
Paragraph 2

What does the author mean by „members of one culture“?

What is culture? What does it consist of? (This question ought to remind the students
of previously acquired knowledge.)

Give an example of an opinion, value, attitude which we all share.
Paragraph 3

Why are blue sunglasses mentioned here?

How may the Japanese view of the world probably differ from our own view?

Can we say that it is bad when we view many things around us in different ways?
3. Students formulate in pairs the answer to the question „What happened?“, write it down,
and present it to the others.
Reflection
Ask one of the pairs to read out their answer (write all answers up on the board). Then, those
will join with their versions of the answer who are of the opinion that their version is similar
to the first one. In the next phase, a pair will read their answer who consider it radically
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
6
different from the first one; the remaining pairs will join them, or they will present their
answers as alternatives. In this way, the basis for a discussion ought to be established.

How do the views of the individual „groups“ differ?

Can we exclude some of the listed answers as unsuitable? Why yes, why not?

In what do the glasses limit us?

Should we try discolour our sunglasses? Is it possible?

What can we do instead?
The text should invoke in the pupils contemplation of factors which influence one’s view of
the world, and the role the environment plays in which people live. If the discussion is
conducted sensitively, above all after the third paragraph, the students should be inspired to
carefully think about, but not to condemn right away, the phenomenon of ethnocentric
perception.
Variations, follow-up
Group work
Create a poster which most exactly and convincingly answers these questions:

What effect have our glasses upon us?

What are the consequences of this effect?

How can we work with the positive consequences? How can we alleviate the negative
ones?
List as many arguments as possible, as well as concrete examples to support them (at least
three points to each of the questions).
Design the poster so that it is attractive visually, but also informative with regard to the
content (it must attract attention, be easy to read, and provide information which it promises
to provide).
Make use of pictures cut out of magazines, your own drawings etc.
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
7
Before starting to work, members of each group should also make clear the roles that each of
them will play within the realisation of the task and during the presentation of the poster; in
both phases, all group members should participate.
Criteria for evaluating the poster may be set up as proposed above, or the criteria may result
from a discussion of all students.
Homework: Describe in writing one situation (from a book, newspaper, from the TV or radio,
from a story told by your friends or relatives), in which (cultural) diversity played a crucial
role.
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
8
Text
SUNGLASSES
1.
Imagine that from the beginning of all times, everybody ever born in our country wears a pair
of sunglasses. People wear them from their early childhood, nobody ever takes them off, not
even in bed – as if everybody got the same kind of piercing or tattoo on the day they were
born. Nobody is surprised that people have them, because there is nobody without glasses
around and there has never been a moment anybody would see a person without them. They
are a natural part of everybody’s life. They are yellow.
2.
Now, do take the glasses off just for a minute and have a look at them. The yellow colour is
caused by the values, attitudes, opinions, habits, and views of the world that we, participants
of one culture, share. Everything that we have ever seen, experienced and learned, has been
processed by our brains through the filter of the yellow sunglasses. Everything has been
filtered by the values, attitudes and opinions that give the glasses their yellow colour. The
yellow glasses actually represent the nature of our common socio-cultural background.
3.
Thousands of kilometres away, in a different country – for instance in Japan – everybody
who was ever born there also wears sunglasses. They are blue. Nobody is surprised that
people have them, because there is nobody without glasses around and there has never been a
moment anybody would see a person without them. They are a natural part of everybody’s
life. Everything that the Japanese see, perceive and experience is filtered through the blue
sunglasses.
4.
Somebody from our country who travels to Japan may be as sensitive as to realise that he or
she needs a pair of Japanese sunglasses through which he or she will be able to „watch“ the
country in order to learn as much as possible about it. Upon arrival in Japan, naturally
enough, our traveller immediately procures a pair of Japanese sunglasses, wears them, and
after two months feels that he or she begins to understand the values, habits, attitudes, and
opinions of local people. In fact, he or she „sees“ Japan through the eyes of the Japanese.
After some time, he or she comes home and considers him- or herself a Japanese expert. He
or she has understood and knows that Japanese culture is green!
What happened?
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
9
What happened? – information for the teacher
The story of the sunglasses is actually a simple parable.
It helps us to understand

what is culture

that our acquired cultural system determines the way we see, perceive, and judge the
world, and also the way we understand it

the possibilities of our working with this fact in order to learn about other cultures
without judging them
The traveller was not able to lay aside his = our yellow filters. The moral of the parable might
sound like this: In order to perceive and learn about other cultures as objectively as possible,
we have to realise that we view them through the prism of our own culture, of the collection
of our own values, attitudes and opinions. We can never totally get rid of this prism, but we
should be aware of it. Then we will know that it gives no sense for us to make judgements of
another culture because we can never look at it from an objective point of view.
However, without judging other cultures, it is still reasonable to try to learn about them. We
only have to realise that there are many ways of looking at one single phenomenon, of
understanding it, and of judging it; none of these ways is objectively right or wrong, and all
of them are disposed to be subjectively relevant and legitimate.
HOW CAN WE ALLEVIATE THE NEGATIVE EFFECT OF THE GLASSES?
Two things are needful: firstly, we must come to terms with the fact that our way of
perceiving the world is neither universal nor the only one. We must learn to consider reality
from various viewpoints, with willingness to respect its diversity, and without prejudices.
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
10
Secondly, we ought to understand our own culture – our yellow glasses; we ought to define
what is typical of it, and which values, attitudes and concepts are integral to it. The more we
understand our cultural background, the better we will be able to reflect upon the ways it
distorts our perception of other cultures.
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
11
Ritual of body – Nacirema tribe
Objectives
Students

are able to view the habits of the euro-american civilisation from outside

realise the relativity and conditionality of cultural habits and rituals

realise that habits and patterns that we consider commonplace do not necessarily have to
make that impression when viewed from outside
Number of students
arbitrary
Timing
50 minutes
Teaching aids, materials
A sufficient number of copies of the „Nacirema“ text; pencils, paper.
Description, instructions
1. Tell the students that the aim of this activity is to learn about peculiar rituals of a certain
North-American tribe
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
12
2. Distribute copies of the text among the students and ask them to write down individually
their reflection on the Nacirema rituals.

How do you find the Nacirema rituals of body?

Which of their habits do you find most peculiar and why?

Do you find some of their habits useless, cruel, insensible? Why?

How would you perceive the Nacirema rituals when compared to the system of our own
patterns of behaviour, habits, and values?
3. After about 25 minutes ask a few students to read out their reflections. (If all of the
students read their notes, the activity will very time-consuming. If you want the most
diverse opinions to be expressed in the shortest possible space of time, try asking
following questions: Is there a totally different opinion? Is there anything else that you
have found interesting? etc.)
4. Tell the students to read the name of the tribe backwards. What happens? Have them read
the text again and search for „American“ rituals which are described in it.
Reflection
Discuss with students their feeling which they had upon learning that the text is in fact about
Americans. Ask them to try and define themselves the objective of the activity. Further
possible questions and tasks:

Try to think of things that members of other cultures might find surprising about us?

Try to name as many rituals of the European culture as possible (food, clothes, hygiene,
proposing, sexual habits, roles of men and women in various situations, ways of
communication etc.). Can all our rituals be rationally explained or do we stick to them
just because „it has been done like that from time immemorial“?

Have you ever come across quite different rituals on your travels abroad? What were
they like?

Do you think one way of „abiding in the world“ can be considered better than others?
Why?
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
13
Text
Horace Miner: Rituals of body - Nacirema tribe
Professor Linton first brought the ritual of the Nacirema to the attention of
anthropologists twenty years ago, but the culture of this people is still very poorly
understood. They are a North American group living in the territory between the
Canadian Cree, the Yaqui and Tarahumare of Mexico, and the Carib and Arawak of
the Antilles. Little is known of their origin, although tradition states that they came
from the east.
Nacirema culture is characterised by a highly developed market economy which has
evolved in a rich natural habitat. While much of the people's time is devoted to
economic pursuits, a large part of the fruits of these labours and a considerable
portion of the day are spent in ritual activity. The focus of this activity is the human
body, the appearance and health of which loom as a dominant concern in the ethos
of the people. While such a concern is certainly not unusual, its ceremonial aspects
and associated philosophy are unique.
The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human
body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Incarcerated in
such a body, man's only hope is to avert these characteristics through the use of
ritual and ceremony. Every household has one or more shrines devoted to this
purpose. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their
houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the
number of such ritual centres it possesses. Most houses are of wattle and daub
construction, but the shrine rooms of the more wealthy are walled with stone. Poorer
families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.
While each family has at least one such shrine, the rituals associated with it are not
family ceremonies but are private and secret. The rites are normally only discussed
with children, and then only during the period when they are being initiated into these
mysteries.
The focal point of the shrine is a box or chest which is built into the wall. In this chest
are kept the many charms and magical potions without which no native believes he
could live. These preparations are secured from a variety of specialised practitioners.
The most powerful of these are the medicine men, whose assistance must be
rewarded with substantial gifts.
The charm is not disposed of after it has served its purpose, but is placed in the
charmbox of the household shrine. As these magical materials are specific for
certain ills, and the real or imagined maladies of the people are many, the charm-box
is usually full to overflowing. The magical packets are so numerous that people
forget what their purposes were and fear to use them again. While the natives are
very vague on this point, we can only assume that the idea in retaining all the old
magical materials is that their presence in the charm-box, before which the body
rituals are conducted, will in some way protect the worshipper.
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
14
The Nacirema have an almost pathological horror of and fascination with the mouth,
the condition of which is believed to have a supernatural influence on all social
relationships. Were it not for the rituals of the mouth, they believe that their teeth
would fall out, their gums bleed, their jaws shrink, their friends desert them, and their
lovers reject them. They also believe that a strong relationship exists between oral
and moral characteristics. For example, there is a ritual ablution of the mouth for
children which is supposed to improve their moral fibre.
The daily body ritual performed by everyone includes a mouth-rite. Despite the fact
that these people are so punctilious about care of the mouth, this rite involves a
practice which strikes the uninitiated stranger as revolting. Reportedly, the ritual
consists of inserting a small bundle of hog hairs into the mouth, along with certain
magical powders, and then moving the bundle in a highly formalised series of
gestures.
In addition to the private mouth-rite, the people seek out a holy-mouth-man once or
twice a year. These practitioners have an impressive set of paraphernalia, consisting
of a variety of augers, awls, probes, and prods. The use of these items in the
exorcism of the evils of the mouth involves almost unbelievable ritual torture of the
client. The holy-mouth-man opens the client's mouth and, using the above
mentioned tools, enlarges any holes which decay may have created in the teeth.
Magical materials are put into these holes. If there are no naturally occurring holes in
the teeth, large sections of one or more teeth are gouged out so that the
supernatural substance can be applied. In the client's view, the purpose of these
ministrations is to arrest decay and to draw friends. The extremely sacred and
traditional character of the rite is evident in the fact that the natives return to the holymouth-men year after year, despite the fact that their teeth continue to decay.
The above mentioned medicine men have an imposing temple, or latipso, in every
community of any size. The more elaborate ceremonies required to treat very sick
patients can only be performed at this temple. These ceremonies involve not only the
thaumaturge but a permanent group of vestal maidens who move sedately about the
temple chambers in distinctive costume and head-dress.
The latipso ceremonies are so harsh that it is phenomenal that a fair proportion of
the really sick natives who enter the temple ever recover. Small children whose
indoctrination is still incomplete have been known to resist attempts to take them to
the temple because "that is where you go to die." Despite this fact, sick adults are
not only willing but eager to undergo the protracted ritual purification, if they can
afford to do so. No matter how ill the supplicant or how grave the emergency, the
guardians of many temples will not admit a client if he cannot give a rich gift to the
custodian. Even after one has gained and survived the ceremonies, the guardians
will not permit the neophyte to leave until he makes still another gift.
The supplicant entering the temple is first stripped of all his or her clothes. In
everyday life the Nacirema avoids exposure of his body and its natural functions.
Bathing and excretory acts are performed only in the secrecy of the household
shrine, where they are ritualised as part of the body-rites. Psychological shock
results from the fact that body secrecy is suddenly lost upon entry into the latipso. A
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
15
man, whose own wife has never seen him in an excretory act, suddenly finds himself
naked and assisted by a vestal maiden while he performs his natural functions into a
sacred vessel. Female clients, on the other hand, find their naked bodies are
subjected to the scrutiny, manipulation and prodding of the medicine men.
Few supplicants in the temple are well enough to do anything but lie on their hard
beds. The daily ceremonies, like the rites of the holy-mouth-men, involve discomfort
and torture. The fact that the temple ceremonies may not cure, and may even kill the
neophyte, in no way decreases the people's faith in the medicine men.
In conclusion, mention must be made of certain practices which have their base in
native aesthetics but which depend upon the pervasive aversion to the natural body
and its functions. There are ritual fasts to make fat people thin and ceremonial feasts
to make thin people fat. Still other rites are used to make women's breasts larger if
they are small, and smaller if they are large. General dissatisfaction with breast
shape is symbolised in the fact that the ideal form is virtually outside the range of
human variation. A few women afflicted with almost inhuman hyper-mammary
development are so idolised that they make a handsome living by simply going from
village to village and permitting the natives to stare at them for a fee.
Reference has already been made to the fact that excretory functions are ritualised,
routinised, and relegated to secrecy. Natural reproductive functions are similarly
distorted. Intercourse is taboo as a topic and scheduled as an act. Efforts are made
to avoid pregnancy by the use of magical materials or by limiting intercourse to
certain phases of the moon. Conception is actually very infrequent. When pregnant,
women dress so as to hide their condition. Parturition takes place in secret, without
friends or relatives to assist, and the majority of women do not nurse their infants.
Our review of the ritual life of the Nacirema has certainly shown them to be a magicridden people. It is hard to understand how they have managed to exist so long
under the burdens which they have imposed upon themselves. But even such exotic
customs as these take on real meaning when they are viewed with insight provided
by Malinowski when he wrote:
Looking from far and above, from our high places of safety in the developed
civilisation, it is easy to see all the crudity and irrelevance of magic. But without its
power and guidance early man could not have mastered his practical difficulties as
he has done, nor could man have advanced to the higher stages of civilisation.
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
16
Labelling
Objectives
Students

are able to co-operate

can describe the experience of non-verbal communication

understand the concept of group identity
Number of students
at least 12
Timing
30 minutes
Teaching aids, materials
Small coloured labels (of at least four different colours), one for each member of the group.
Sufficient space for everybody to walk about freely. One label should stay solitary, that is
there are no other labels of that particular colour.
Description, instructions
1. Ask the students to stand in a circle, close their eyes, and stop talking. Stick one coloured
label onto everybody’s forehead. Make sure that you do not label persons standing next to
each other with the same colour, and that you do not follow a regular order. Nonetheless,
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
17
each colour (with the exception of the solitary one) ought to be used on about the same
number of pupils. Everybody labelled, you tell them to open their eyes.
2. The students must not talk, point at colours in the room, take the labels off their
foreheads, or look at glazy things (mirrors, windows). Assign them with the task to form
groups according to the colours of their labels. The task cannot be accomplished without
mutual trust and co-operation. The feeling of identity of each student (understanding of
the colour on his / her forehead) depends upon the others.
3. Once the groups are formed, finish the game.
Reflection
Reflection is unusually important after this activity. Its goal should consist in establishing a
link between a simulated situation and real life. The discussion may be motivated with help
of these questions:

How did you feel during the activity?

How did the solitary student feel?

Are there any factors in real life that remind you of the labels in that they sort us into
groups? Are these „labels“ chosen voluntarily? Or some of them?

How can a group identity affect the opportunities of an individual in life?

Is it important for a person to belong somewhere? What is it like not to belong any
group?
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
18
The First Impression
Objectives
Students

realise how people differ from one another in terms of the first impression that is aroused
in them by others

understand the mechanisms of our previous experience, prejudices, and stereotypes affect
our first impressions

reflect how our first impressions influence our behaviour towards others
Timing
30 minutes
Number of students
4 – 12
Teaching aids, materials, preparation

Choose from magazines pictures of people with an interesting, remarkable face

Cut the pictures out and stick them to the heading of blank sheets of paper so that there is
enough space underneath

Prepare one picture for each student
Description, instructions
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
19
1. Ask the students to sit down in a circle, give one of the prepared sheets of paper to
each.
2. Ask the students to write down onto the very bottom of the sheet their first impression
of the person in the picture.
3. Have everybody fold the lower margin of the sheet so that what they have written
cannot be seen and give the sheet to their neighbour to their right.
4. Repeat the procedure until the sheets have returned to their initial owners.
5. Ask the students to unroll the sheets and read what the others’ impressions are like.
Reflection
The discussion may be motivated with help of these questions:

How did you feel as you were forced to quickly express your first impressions?

What surprised you most?

Did the first impressions of your peers differ? In which cases were the differences most
prominent? Why?

What were your first impressions based on most often? What were the decisive factors in
the process of your formulating your first impressions?

Which face made the best impression upon you and why? Which one made the worst
impression and why?

Do you remember a situation when your first impression was very wrong? Describe it.

Are there any exterior characteristics that always influence your first impression? Which
are they?

Have you also learnt anything about yourselves? What has this activity given to you?
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
20
Playing an Ethnologist
Objective
Students realise how our perception is affected by unconscious prejudices and stereotypes.
Number of students
About twenty, divided into three approximately equal groups located at different spots in the
classroom so that they do not disturb or influence one another.
Timing
30 minutes
Teaching aids, materials
A copy of the photograph for each student, paper, pencils; a copy of instructions for writing
an ethnological report.
Description, instructions
1. Divide the students into three groups that will work in different parts of the classroom so
that they might disturb one another as little as possible. This is not going to be group
work – they will work individually; the reason for dividing them (which the students are
not supposed to know) is for them not to find out that they are working with an identical
picture.
2. Distribute the copies of the photograph; each group gets a different commentary.
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
21
1. A village of the Oglals, members of the Lakota tribal group, Pine Ridge Reservation,
South Dakota, USA.
2. A village in the area of Punjab, north of India.
3. A Romany settlement, east of Slovakia.
3. Tell the students that the objective of their work is to write, individually and without
discussion with peers, a short imaginary report from an ethnological field research, based
on the information they get from the picture and on their own knowledge.
Instructions for writing the report
Start with description of the photograph. What can you see? What do the people look like?
What do their dwellings look like?
Using your imagination, try to describe:

what these people do, how they earn their living

how numerous their family is, how their generic relationships are formed and how they
function

what are their hygienic and food habits

the religion of these people, attitude to nature, universe, world

their system of values, their conception of beauty, truth, justice
At the end, make a brief comparison of the culture described with your own culture.
4. Allow about 15 minutes for the students to work on the report. Everybody works by
themselves, copying or discussions are limited to the minimum.
5. Collect the copies of the photograph. Ask volunteers from all groups to read out their
reports. Write the most important pieces of information up on the board. (Due to a lack of
time, it will probably not be possible to have all students read their reports out. Yet, it is
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
22
useful collect the reports after the activity has finished and turn back to more detailed
reflection in the next lesson). Compel the students to express their opinions concerning
the reports from the individual groups.
6. Tell the students the point: the picture was identical for all groups, and commentary
number 3 is authentic.
Reflection
We view reality through a filter, this filter being mediated, unverified information, which is
not supported by our own experience. The objective of the activity was to bring to light how
this preconception influences our perception of a photograph. Draw the students’ attention to
their descriptions of the picture above all, and to the conclusive evaluations of the given
culture from the reports.

How was the Romany settlement assessed? Did the descriptions of what you can „really
see“ in the picture in the respective groups?

Which factors play a role in the perception of reality? Were your reports influenced by
presuppositions, anticipations, stereotypes, prejudices? Where did you get the
„objective“ information that you have about the individual cultures?

Do you know that the best part of the American public perceive American Indians in a
similar way to the way many Europeans perceive Romany people? What did have
influence on your view of the „American Indian“ culture?

What did have influence on your view of the Romany culture? Have you ever visited a
Romany settlement?

What did have influence on your view of the „Indian“ culture?

etc..
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
23
Picture
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
24
About the Project
VARIANTY – INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION
Respect – Equality – Diversity
In January 2001, the People in Need Foundation commenced the realisation of project
Variants, which is focused on the support of the relations of the majority and minorities in the
Czech Republic.
The objective of the project is to introduce intercultural education into:

the whole system of education in the Czech Republic

the system of life-long learning
and thus to support:

acquisition of respect to socio-cultural diversity

enhancement of tolerance to minority groups

improvement of the social position of persons from a different socio-cultural environment

facilitation of the persons from a different socio-cultural environment’s accessing the
labour market
Intercultural education – what is it?
Intercultural education is an educational process mediating cognition of one’s own cultural
background on the one hand, and comprehension of different cultures on the other.
Intercultural education develops the sense of justice, solidarity and tolerance, it leads to
understanding of and respect to the constantly deepening socio-cultural variety, and it makes
way for understanding of different ways of life, thinking and perception of the world. It does
not only affect the sphere of knowledge, but – and above all – the area of competence and
attitudes.
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
25
The mission of intercultural education is:

to provide basic information about different socio-cultural groups living in the Czech
Republic and in Europe

to develop in people the ability to orientate themselves in the socio-culturally diversified
world and to make use of intercultural contacts and dialogue in order to enrich oneself as
well as others

to foster tolerance of, and respect and openness to, different groups
Education spheres which the project affects:

Primary and Lower-Secondary Education

Higher-Secondary Education

Tertiary Education

Pedagogical Centres

School Inspection

Education of Adults

Children’s Homes and Borstals

Community Education
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.
26
About us
Authors:
A collective of educationalists participating in the realisation of Varianty – Intercultural
Education project
Editor:
Mgr. Jan Buryánek
Translated and modified by:
Mgr. Tomáš Jacko
These materials were created within the framework of Varianty – Intercultural Education project, realised by People in
Need – Czech TV Foundation. The project is financed by the European Union’s PHARE programme and from the state
budget of the Czech Republic.