Signs Preceding the End of the World

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Research Paper: Global Border Crossings”

In this activity, students will write a research product on dangerous border crossings globally.

Individuals who cross borders are often faced with harrowing journeys. Whether they choose to migrate for better economic possibilities, or are forced to migrate because they are persecuted, these journeys can result in trauma, injury, or even death.

For this activity, you will select a dangerous border crossing in contemporary society, research the difficulties that people on the move (refugees, asylum seekers, migrants) face in their journeys, and compare the experience to that of Makina’s in the novel. Use the following questions to guide your research paper:

• Which communities seek to cross the border? Why do they seek this?
• What are some of the obstacles they experience?
• What are the political implications of this border crossing (e.g., is there a war, genocide, etc.)?
• For countries of origin and countries of destination, what have been the responses to these increased flows of people on the move?
• How are these experiences like and unlike those of Makina in Signs Preceding the End of the World? Why might the author have chosen to give the character’s journey a mythlike status?