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Tag: Community & Belonging

Unit 2: Resilience and Resistance – Resilience in the Oromo Culture and Justice System

Time Frame

  • 1–2 class periods 

Materials

Connection to the 7 Cs of Ethnic Studies

  • Center: centering Oromo indigenous culture of helping each other and the Oromo knowledge system of justice and reconciliation 

Instruction (ICCR)

Ignite

  • Ask students the following questions. (Students can answer in English or a heritage language. They can also draw their answer, if they’d like.)
    • What do you think culture means? If it helps, you can describe our classroom culture, our school culture, your family or community’s culture, our culture in America, etc. 
  • What do you think justice means? If it helps, you can describe what justice looks like when there is a conflict in our classroom, our school, your family, your community, or our society.
  • Have students share their answers.

Chunk 1

  • Give a student-friendly definition of culture and justice.
  • Provide the lesson on Oromo culture below. 

The Oromo Culture of Helping Each Other

  • Jiga is when people come together to help each other with work. Everyone shares the effort so no one has to do it alone.
    • The focus is on teamwork and shared responsibility. 
  • Qabo is when people quickly show up to help someone they care about who is in trouble, without needing to be asked.
    • The focus is on community being there whenever it’s needed.
  • Afoosha is when a group of people regularly support each other, especially during emergencies, by sharing money or resources.
    • The focus is on financial and social support.

Oromo Justice and Reconciliation 

  • Jaarsumaa is when respected elders in the community help solve problems by listening to both sides and helping people make peace.
  • The focus is on the relationship, not blame. 
  • Gumaa is when someone or their family takes responsibility for harm they caused, and gives something back (like support or compensation) to make things right.
  • The focus is on repairing the harm, not punishing.
  • Araara is a way of bringing people back together after conflict through apology, forgiveness, and community healing.
  • The focus is on finding peace and healing, which is what matters most.

Chunk 2

Compare American and Oromo culture and justice.

  • Show the T-chart (see attachment/appendix 1).
  • Give a scenario of a conflict between two students in your school. What harm was caused? What would justice look like? How would the principal handle it?
    • Expected answers would be that our schools traditionally focus on who started the fight (highlighting who is “guilty”) and a punishment system (referral, detention, suspension). 
  • Now, given our lesson on the Oromo justice system, how do you think this same conflict would be handled in the Oromo culture? 
    • Jaarsumaa: Respected elders would mediate the conflict and listen to both sides. The two students would talk it out.
      • You can ask students: What questions would you ask? How would you help both sides be heard and understood?
    • Gumaa: Harm would be repaired through positive action (providing support, taking responsibility, restoring balance).
      • You can ask students: What support would be needed for both students? How can their relationship be restored going back in the classroom? How can each person take responsibility for the conflict that feels productive for all?
    • Araara: The conflict settled, the community would come back together.
      • You can ask: What would peace look like afterward for the two in conflict? How would students in the class feel when the two students return after mediation? 

Chew 

  • Watch or read Tashitaa Tufaa’s story or video. If reading, highlight/annotate the parts where you can find the answers to the Turn and Talk prompts. 
  • Turn and Talk, sharing with a partner: 
    • What Oromo culture did Tashitaa mention? 
    • What disagreements or conflicts did he mention?
    • How did he use his Oromo cultural upbringing to persevere when he was learning English, working multiple jobs, and starting his own business?
  • At the end of partner sharing, share with the students: Tashitaa’s story connects to this topic because he is an Oromo immigrant who has lived in Minnesota since 1992. He is a hardworking and community-oriented person who supports his community financially and socially. As an educated entrepreneur, he demonstrates strong commitment to his cultural values, especially the Oromo tradition of helping one another. Helping each other is a core part of Oromo culture, and Tashitaa lives out this value in his daily life. Oromo people value their culture by practicing it through tradition, respect, and community cooperation, just as Tashitaa does.
  • In small groups or with a partner, have students take on one of these topics to design what justice could have looked like for Tashitaa. If the Oromo justice system had been used, how would Tashitaa’s experience have been different? Refer to the handout “Why Is Oromo Culture Important?” (attachment/appendix 2) and the prompts below. 
  • Students can craft their response on paper or digitally, being creative as they visually show how Tashitaa’s experience would be different.

Topic options (choose one) and prompts:

  • Topic 1: Disagreeing with the government
    • What disagreement or harm was taking place?
    • What could Jarsuumaa (talking it out) and Gumaa (restoring relationship) have looked like? 
    • What could Araara (peace) have looked like?
  • Topic 2: Learning the English language
    • What barriers did Tashitaa face?
    • How could people and the community have helped him learn English?
    • What could Jiga, Qabo, and Afoosha have looked like for Tashitaa in this circumstance? 
  • Topic 3: Integrating into a new community
    • How could the community have helped Tashitaa address job and housing access? 
    • What support systems could have better helped Tashitaa in his transition?
    • What could Jiga, Qabo, and Afoosha have looked like for Tashitaa in this situation? 

Review

  • Have students pair-share the following questions:
  • What does justice mean to me now? How could we use aspects of Oromo culture and justice systems in our classrooms, schools, and society?
  • How do my family or my cultural community handle justice and help one another? Is it the same or different from the Oromo culture?

Multilingual and ELL Support

  • Provide visuals (see slides/attachments).
  • Provide sentence stems for written work and verbal share-outs / small group discussions. 
  • Provide the chunked parts in the reading ahead of time so students don’t have to find it.

Vocabulary and Definitions

  • Culture: A reflection of how people live and exist as a community or nation. Culture includes many parts of life, such as politics (how people are governed), religion (belief systems), traditions (customs and practices), and the economy (how people work and support themselves).
  • Resilience: The ability to keep going and not give up when things get hard.
  • Guuza/Jiga (JEE-guh): When people come together to help each other with work. Everyone shares the effort, so no one has to do it alone. The focus is on teamwork and shared responsibility. 
  • Qabo (KAH-boh): When people quickly show up to help someone they care about who is in trouble, without needing to be asked. The focus is on the community being there whenever you need it.
  • Afoosha (ah-FOO-shah) When a group of people regularly support each other, especially during emergencies, by sharing money or resources. The focus is on financial and social support.
  • Jaarsumaa (jar-SOOM-mah): When respected elders in the community help solve problems by listening to both sides and helping people make peace. The focus is on the relationship, not blame. 
  • Gumaa (GOO-mah): When someone or their family takes responsibility for harm they caused and give something back (like support or compensation) to make things right. The focus is on repairing the harm, not punishment.
  • Araara (ah-RAH-rah): A way of bringing people back together after conflict through apology, forgiveness, and community healing. The focus is on finding peace and healing, which is what matters most.

Resource List