UNIT3 |
Rice and SpiceLESSON 7: Rice, capital, debt and rural hardship in Southeast Asia from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries |
This lesson plan encourages students to critically examine the questions of ecological interdependence and sustainability as they relate to rice production and agrarian lifeways in contemporary Southeast Asia. Students will explore the ramifications of activities spurred by export cropping and development such as deforestation for the economic and cultural lifeways of impacted communities in Southeast Asia.
| Subject | History / Social Studies |
| Topic | Rice, capital, debt and rural hardship in Southeast Asia from the nineteenth to twentieth centuries: Were the Chettiars to blame for land alienation in Burma? |
| Key idea | Under European colonialism, rice cultivation shifted from subsistence to large-scale, export farming. As a result of the world economic crisis, fallen rice prices and unwillingness of the colonial governments to make policy changes, land alienation and peasant impoverishment increased in Southeast Asia. |
| Key concepts | Capital Capitalism Cash crop Cultivation Economic depression Globalization Interconnections International economy Natural resources Supply and demand |
| Level | Lower secondary |
| No. of periods / lessons | 2 periods (1 period is approximately 50 minutes) |
| Facilities needed | Sources and handouts for distribution |
| Prerequisite knowledge | Students should have covered Lesson 1: Introduction to rice cultures, Lesson 5: Spice, rice and the economic histories of Southeast Asia and Lesson 6: The spice trade, European control and regional response to have knowledge about rice culture and the inter-connectedness of the region. |
Learning objectives
By the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
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Structure
Download the lesson plan for details on the talks and activities suggested below.
1. Hook activity: Cloze (gap-fill) and reading inference task
Students read a source and learn new vocabulary. This text presents how Southeast Asia’s economy changed from previous centuries by using the example of rice farming.
2. Teacher talk
The lecture presents the evolution of Southeast Asia economy in the late 19th – early 20th centuries using the example of rice cultivation in Burma. It shows how the economy developed but also became more vulnerable to the global market, leading a new class of farmers to lose their land to moneylenders.
3. Discussion
Using various sources, students reflect on the situation of rice cultivators and the problem of debt.
4. Teacher talk
The teacher explains the links between moneylending and land alienation.
5. Reflection: Exit pass
Students reflect on the connection between Southeast Asia and the global markets.
6. Role Play 1
Students portray the exchanges between a Burmese cultivator and a Chettiar moneylender. Cards help selected students to become familiar with their character. The students in the audience ask them questions.
7. Role play 2
Students portray the exchanges between two British colonial government officials, a European merchant and a Burmese landowner. Cards help selected students to become familiar with their character. The students in the audience ask them questions.
8. Reflection: The iceberg diagram
The students use multiple sources and information acquired during the lesson to brainstorm on the responsibility of the Chettiars for land alienation in Burma. The Iceberg Diagram help students gain awareness of the multiple factors that give rise to the issue of land alienation: the obvious ones and the more complex ones. The visual image of the iceberg helps students remember the importance of looking deeper than what is on the surface in order to better understand events in the past (or present).
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UNIT3 : LESSON6
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