1. Place students into several groups and assign each a fitious Mr. or Ms. X, and have them brainstorm all of the ways in they might strip that person of their identi- ty. Remind them of the need to consider all aspects of their lives: personal, professional, recreational, etc. After the groups have worked for twenty minutes debrief the groups and construct a master list on an overhead or chalkboard. Have the students then begin to suggest ways in which one would need to guard against such an event in their own situation. This may take additional time. Compare and contrast this analy- sis with the Kosovo Albanians who have been forced to flee with their lives, and sometimes being stripped of their identification documentation.

Make copies of the announcement, "Identity Theft Re- sources," from a California police agency as a follow up to the previous discussion. Allow them some time to compare their list with that of the Sacramento Police Department. What suggestions might they make to that Department if they wanted to make it comprehensive?

2. What is the process by which "stateless" people might be admitted to the United States (e.g., Kosovar refu- gees have been brought to Fort Dix in New Jersey for possible resettlement, or as a temporary measure until their country has been restored)? If the usual Immi- gration and Naturalization Service procedure were fol- lowed for "identity-less" refugees to establish who they might be, have students consider what problems these people might have. Given this situation what kinds of secondary documentation is possible? Read aloud Reading I, "I Have No Documents: They Were Destroyed in Kosovo," as a basis for the discussion. Have students make comparisons to their own lives, or the lives of regular immigrants to the US.

3. Reading II is an exchange that occurred on the Internet at a site entitled Policy Toward Serbia. This site provides an "Opinion Board - Message" where people can freely express their opinion(s) on the topic of the US policy toward Serbia. Students acquainted with the Internet "chat" lines, or other places where opinions can be offered will recognize that these ARE OPINIONS and may or may not be supported with factual evidence (indeed, that may well be a great way to start the lesson— having them make that distinction). In this particular piece, teachers should also be alerted to the potential of having students recognize the signifi- cance of analogies in argumentation: the value or detraction of using them in stating a case.

This exchange is based on a previous piece (not given) which apparently had asserted that the Kosovars had been deprived of their identity by having their documentation removed from them as they fled out of the country. The purpose of this exercise is to have students realize that factual documentation may or may not support a vigorous exchange of views. The discussion should end with students preparing (either individually, or in groups) a possible "followup" which they might pretend to send to the identified discussants on the Internet.

Along the way, it is hoped that the teacher will make use of current newspapers and magazines for information which students might refer to. Each of the news sources have their own Internet sites, e.g.<www.time.com>

4. (For advanced students.) An argument has been made that to continue to reenforce national identity in this increasingly global world is to continue to encourage arguments, disputes, and, perhaps, future wars. Assign Readings III and IV, "National Identity and the Politics of Multiculturalism" by Henry Giroux and "National Identity: Help or Hindrance to Peace?" from the Northern Friends Peace Board. Have the students identify the arguments which are presented by the authors and then have a general discussion about the merits of the cases made. Another article available from the internet is "Global Migration-Immigration-Multiethnicity: Challenges to the Concept of the Nation-State" by Jost Delbruck, originally published in 1984. http://www.law.indiana.edu/glsj/vol2/delbruck.html (5/25/99)

Teachers should keep in mind that all three are sophisticated presentations, and that she/he may need to provide some explication. The students should then be given an opportunity to apply these arguments to the present situation in the former Yugoslavia.