VOLUME 9 | ISSUE 31

WHAT HAPPENED TO #BRINGBACKOURGIRLS?

SECONDARY RESOURCES
NOTE TO EDUCATORS g

The following activities are designed to

stimulate a current events discussion.
Generative in nature, these questions can
be a launching point for additional
assignments or research projects.
Teachers are encouraged to adapt these
activities to meet the contextual needs of
their classroom.

Michelle Obama tweeted this photo in support of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign in 2014.
Photo Credit: Michelle Obamas Twitter Account.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
During the night of April 14, 2014, 276 girls
were kidnapped from their boarding high
school in the town of Chibok, Nigeria. They
were kidnapped by a military group called
Boko Haram, which roughly translates as
western education is forbidden. 57 girls
were able to escape on their own.
(AfricaCheck.org)
The hashtag #BringBackOurGirls first
appeared on April 23, 2014 in Twitter posts
from people in Nigeria. By May 9, 2014, the
hashtag had appeared in more than 2.4
million tweets from people around the world.
(www.reportr.net)
The photograph of Michelle Obama,
Americas First Lady, holding a piece of paper
with #BringBackOurGirls written on it, was
retweeted almost 55,000 times.
(www.reportr.net)
In the spring of 2014, the Ice Bucket
Challenge spread around social media.
Participants would video themselves having
a bucket of ice water dumped over their
heads. They would then challenge others to
do the same, or make a donation to a charity.
In July, the Challenge reached an American
named Pete Frates who had a large network
on social media and had recently been

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diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

(ALS) or Lou Gherigs Disease. Frates
dedicated his challenge to ALS. His video
went viral, and the Challenge became
connected almost exclusively to ALS. More
than $15 million dollars have been donated
for ALS research because of the Ice Bucket
Challenge. (TIME Magazine)

In February 2012, an organization called

Invisible Children posted a video to raise
awareness about the crimes committed by
Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony. Over several
decades, Konys army has kidnapped an
estimated 66,000 children to become soldiers
or sex slaves, and has driven more than 2
million people from their homes. The Kony
2012 video called on the world to take action
to capture Kony and bring him to trial.
Within three days, the video had more than
43 million views on Youtube. Celebrities
including Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj
supported the campaign with social media
posts. (KnowYourMeme)

Invisible Children was criticized for

oversimplifying the problem and solutions.
The video had called for a worldwide day of
protests on April 20, 2012. However, reports
from around the world indicated that few
people had actually showed up for rallies.
(KnowYourMeme)

In some cases, reading the article with

students may be appropriate, coupled with
reviewing the information sheet to further
explore the concepts and contexts being
discussed. From here, teachers can select
from the questions provided below. The
activity is structured to introduce students
to the issues, then allow them to explore
and apply their learnings. Students are
encouraged to further reflect on the issues.

KEY TERMS
Social mediaInternet web sites or other
digital applications that allow people to
connect socially and create online
communities.
HashtagA keyword or phrase that is
used to connect posts that concern the
same topic on social media, like Twitter or
Facebook. Hashtags get their name because
they begin with the hash symbol - #
ActivismEngaging in activities that are
intended to create social or political change.
ViralIn the context of social media, viral
refers to an image, video, statement or idea
that gets passed along and shared with a
large number of people in a short period of
time.

A N I N I T I AT I V E O F

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THEMES AND COURSE CONNECTIONS

Themes: Activism, Education, Global Issues, Politics
Course Connections: The Arts, English, Interdisciplinary Studies,
Social Sciences and the Humanities

chart paper. Allow each group to share their work and post their
papers on the board.

MATERIALS

Front board
Student journals or note paper
Writing utensils

On the board write down the word slacktivism. Provide students

with the following explanation:

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SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS AND LEARNING GOALS

Students will:

Develop and express responses to issues and problems.

Reassess their responses to issues on the basis of new information.
Participate in active group work and class discussions.
Communicate eectively in writing, orally or visually.
Demonstrate the ability to think critically.
Develop, express and defend a position on an issue.

MAP IT
Have students find the location mentioned in the article in order to
gain a deeper understanding of this issue.

Chibok, Nigeria

Slacktivism is a combination of the words slacker and activism. It

has been used to describe hashtag activism. Slacktivism is described as
a lazy kind of activism done by people who feel good when they share
and promote issues online but do not take any real action.

Tell students to listen carefully to the following statements. After each

statement has been read, tell students to stand up if they agree or stay
seated if they disagree.
i.

Hashtag activism or clicktivism is a form of slacktivism.

ii.

Hashtag activism followed by real-world action is not slacktivism.

iii. There is a limitation to clicktivism to advance causes.

iv.

To be eective, online (hashtag) activism must be backed with

real world activism.

v.

Hashtag activism can play a positive role in world events by

drawing international attention to an issue.

vi. Hashtag activism oversimplifies complex issues and fails to

achieve anything.
vii. Spreading awareness alone is its own kind of protest.

DISCUSS

1. Before reading the Global Voices article, what did you know
about Boko Haram or the #BringBackOurGirls campaign?
Where did you learn this?
2. What is clicktivism? Have you ever engaged in it? Why or
why not?
3. What are some examples of ways social media could be used
to promote a causesomething that is happening in the
world or that someone feels strongly about?Have you or
your friends/family used social media to support a cause? If
so, which one and why?
4. In what ways is using social media for a cause eective? In
what ways is it not eective? What determines if a social
media campaign is successful?
5. Another large-scale social media campaign in 2014 was the
ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Did you participate in this
campaign? Do you feel that this campaign was eective?
Why or why not? Did it raise funds for ALS research? Did it
raise awareness about ALS? If so, what do you know about
ALS?
6. Do you think a social media campaign is enough to support
the issue behind #BringBackOurGirls? Are there other ways
we can support the campaign?

DIVE DEEPER
Organize the class into three groups and give each group a piece of
chart paper with one of the following words written in the centre:
i. Hashtag

As a class discuss the connection between all three words and create a
class definition for hashtag activism.

ii. Activism

iii. #BringBackOurGirls

Instruct students to work collaboratively to write as many dierent

words as they can think of that connect to or define the word on their

viii. Hashtags are eective only when theyre trending.

Read the following statement last and instruct students to hold their
positions:

Hashtags are an eective tool for social activism.

On the board create a T-chart with the headings For and Against. In
the For column write down the names of students who agree with the
statement. In the Against column write down the names of students
who disagree with the statement.

Share with the class that a debate will take place between both teams
to dispute the statement. Have each team come up with three major
arguments that support their opinion. Prior to the debate allow each
team five to ten minutes to gather their thoughts and specific
information. Encourage students to use the Global Voices article and
any other available resources to build their arguments.

Once resources have been collected, the For team will begin by saying
this statement is true because of A, B and C. Team members will
then take turns giving specific details that prove A, B and C
arguments.

The Against team must take notes while the For team is presenting
their arguments and respond to each argument using specific
information to disprove it.
When all the arguments have been responded to, the teams will
switch roles and repeat the activity. The For team should take notes
and respond to the Against teams arguments.
Allow each team three minutes to speak at a time and as a class
develop a new statement that is agreed upon by both teams.

A N I N I T I AT I V E O F

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