DOCUMENT RESUME ED 460 053 SO 033 487 TITLE Spotlight on Inner Asia: The Bizarre Bazaar. Teacher and Student Resource Guide. INSTITUTION American Forum for Global Education, New York, NY. SPONS AGENCY Department of Education, Washington, DC. ISBN ISBN-0-944675-68-9 PUB DATE . 2000-00-00 NOTE 291p.; Funded by a Title VI Grant. AVAILABLE FROM American Forum for Global Education, 120 Wall Street, Suite 2600, New York, NY 10005 ($45 plus $6 shipping/handling). Tel: 800-813-5056 (Toll Free); Fax: 212-624-1412; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.globaled.org/order.html. PUB TYPE Guides - Classroom Learner (051)-- Guides Classroom - Teacher (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Asian History; *Asian Studies; Class Activities; Classroom Techniques; Foreign Countries; *Geographic Regions; Learning Activities; Non Western Civilization; *Regional Characteristics; Secondary Education IDENTIFIERS *Asia (Central); *Asia (Inner); Asian Culture; Global Issues; Mongols ABSTRACT Inner and Central Asia extends as far east as central China and as far west as areas in the Middle East. The changing empires over time (as well as the "shifting sands" of the geographic landmass) made it difficult to consider this as a single area. Moreover, the cultural exchanges which took place across this landmass, the transport of ideas as well as goods, and the "timelessness" as well as the contemporary relevance, all make the task even more difficult to categorize. A person can enter a bazaar, which is "centerless," from many directions and wander through, exiting from a totally different door. The plan is to enter the bazaar delineated in this resource guide through any of these gates: the early history of inner Asia; the Silk Road; the Mongol Empire; Islam; playing the Great Game; or in the modern period. The resource guide begins with an introduction, maps, a time chart, a glossary, and the Teacher Guide (Teaching Methodology; Suggested Teaching Activities). It is then divided into the following broadly sketched Sections: (1) "How Can One Imagine Inner Asia Geographically?" ("Landscape and Climate; Settlements and Dwellings"); (2) "How Did Movement across the Region Influence Multiple Cultural Interaction?" ("Migration: Explorations, Quests and Conquests"; "Trade and Material Exchange"; "Religion and Information Exchange"; "Culture and Customs"); (3) "How Did the Mongolian Conquest and Empire Influence Inner Asia History?" ("Mongolian Customs and Traditions"; "Mongols' Achievements and Heroes"); and (4)"How Does Inner Asia Fit into the Modern Content of Global Issues?" ("Politics and Nationhood"; "Society in Transition"; "Economy and Development"; "Environment)". Seven teacher background readings are included.(BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that canbe made from the original document. Spotlight on Inner Asia The Bizarre Bazaar TEACHER AND STUDENT RESOURCE GUIDE Project Director Hazel Sara Greenberg P roject Coordinator Nadya Tkachenko Copy Editor Mishael Coggeshall-Burr 00 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND Editorial Assistant Office of Educational Research and Improvement 47r DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION BEEN GRANTED BY Patrick Franco CENTER (ERIC) iThis document has been reproduced as cf) received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. a publication of C/) The American Forum for Global Education Funded by The U.S. Department of Education, Title VI Grant Spotlight on Inner Asia The Bizarre Bazaar ISBN: 0-944675-68-9 funded by The U.S. Department of Education, Title VI Grant Copyright © 2000 The American Forum for Global Education The American Forum for Global Education is a private non-profit organization founded in 1970. Its mission is to promote the education of our nation's youth for responsible citizenship in an increasingly interconnected and rapidly changing world. The programs of The American Forum foster a global perspective that include democratic and humane values, appreciation of cultural differences and commonalities, commitment to sustainable development, and the ability to think creatively, analytically and systemically about global issues. All Rights Reserved. No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. The contents of this publication may, however, be reproduced if they are intended solely for non-profit, educational use, except in cases where such reproduction may infringe upon entries protected under their own copyrights. All entries from other sources are so indicated. The American Forum for Global Education wishes to acknowledge all publishers and authors for granting permission to reprint materials in Spotlight on Inner Asia. In accordance with copyright law, all reprinted materials have been transcribed accurately and credits to sources are given. Every attempt has been made to obtain permission to reprint enclosed materials. Copyright holders of materials enclosed that are not in the public domain and are not otherwise noted are invited to contact The American Forum for Global Education. The American Forum for Global Education 120 Wall Street, Suite 2600 New York, New York, 10005 Tel: (212) 624-1300 Fax: 212-742-8752; e-mail: [email protected]. Web address: www.globaled.orq Letter from the Director Developing the materials about Inher and Central Asia was one of the most difficult chores we have ever attempted. Prior to this collection, we had successfully designedcurriculum guides which tended to deal with discrete areas of the worldthe standard area studies approach. Although we call this volume Spotlight on Inner/Central Asia: The Bizarre Bazaar, this is not aself-contained area. Instead, Inner and Central Asia extends as far east as central China and as far west as areas in the Middle East. The changing empires over time (as well as the "shifting sands" of the geographic landmass) made it very difficult to considerthis a discreet area. Moreover, the cultural exchanges which took place acrossthis landmass, the transport of ideas as well as goods, and the "timelessness" as well as the contemporaryrelevance, all made the task even more difficult to categorize. As a result, we ended up with a mass of materialsome esoteric, some practicalall of which had to be organized into some sort of coherent curriculum guide which would be useful to teachers. Thattask could not have been accomplished without the wonderful assistance we had from scholars in the area aswell as our highly patient office staff. The primary task of selecting materials which could be adapted and used for this guide fell to ourfour scholars: Professor Morris Rossabi, Columbia University; Professor Devin DeWeese,Indiana University; Professor Dru Gladney, University of Hawaii; and Professor Robert McChesney, New YorkUniversity. Each provided us with extraordinary primary documents and background material. Meeting with all of them todiscuss this project was a very exciting experience. We are grateful for their commitment to help pre-collegiateteachers and students. We realize that some of the material is difficult and may even appear "strange" inlight of material found in textbooks, but our goal was to assemble an interesting and very challengingcollection of readings which would focus attention on Eurasia and its history. The major role of deciphering how these material should be arranged fell to Nadya Tkachenko, a recent graduate of Middlebury College. Nadya was given a mass of documents and within a six-weekperiod she was able to arrange the format for the readings. Her concept of looking at Inner Asia throughfour different lenses proved to be more effective than studying the area either geographically or historically.Although the section headings are broadly sketched, the concept of developing one's geographic imagination tostudy the area, as well as partake in the cultural interactions which occurred via transports of material goods was anoutstanding method to bring together vastly divergent readings. We applaud her creativity! The final twosections are more traditional with one examining the Mongols and their impact on history and the last looking atCentral and Inner Asia in the global context. We complete the readings with short background pieces to help teachersdevelop a deeper understanding of this material. We hope you will find this collection of readings useful. We have created a brief teacher'sguide with some suggestions on how these materials can be used in aWorld History or Asian Studies class. We have also included some pedagogical techniques which we find useful when we work with teachers.Although many of the readings are long, we see them as a supplement to textbooks and as an excellent sourceof enriching the classroom experience. We do believe the materials can act as a link between other curriculumguides we have developed such as Spotlight on China: Traditions Old and New and Spotlight on theMuslim Middle East: Crossroads. This project was generously funded by the International Studies and ResearchDivision of the U.S. Department of Education. We appreciate their support for this work. Hazel Sara Greenberg Director, The American Forum TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 8 MAPS 10-13 TIME CHART 14-15 GLOSSARY 16 TEACHER GUIDE Teaching Methodology 20 Suggested Teaching Approaches 34 ONE: HOW CAN ONE IMAGINE INNER ASIA GEOGRAPHICALLY? A: Landscape and Climate 1. Taklamakan "Go In and You Won't Come Out" 56 2.The Haunted Desert of Lop Nor 58 3. The Quest for Water 59 4. Challenging Nature 62 5. Mountain of Blinding Darkness 63 B:Settlements and Dwellings 1. Why "Silk" Road and Why Silk "Road"? 65 2. Caravans: Moving Cities of the Desert 66 3. The Unknown Kingdoms. 66 4.The Sleeping City of Lou-Lan 67 5. Further Findings at Lou-Lan 69 6. Exploring Bokhara 69 7. Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement 70 8. Merv: Oasis of Turquoise and Ravens 72 9.