The politics of walls, borders and barriers

This set of lessons designed for key stage 3 geography and history teachers explores the concepts of walls, borders and barriers, focusing on contemporary China. Key concepts covered include: borders, walls, barriers, flows, gateways, globalisation and urbanisation.

The lessons, and multimedia throughout, feature comparative case studies of three famous walls: The Great Wall of China, the US/Mexico border and the Berlin Wall. The lessons draw on contemporary academic research on the politics of walls and research-based documentary films (which can be found at https://sensiblepolitics.net/filmmaking). Pupils will be encouraged to think critically about walls, both as sites of exclusion/inclusion - as well as gateways to personal experience and ideology.

Curriculum links:

• Key Stage 3 Geography (Locational Knowledge, Human and Physical Geography)
• Key Stage 3 History

These learning resources were produced through funding from The London School of Economics’ Knowledge Exchange and Impact (KEI) Fund awarded to Professor William Callahan in the Department of International Relations at the LSE, as part of his ongoing research. Further reading and outreach is available at Professor Callahan’s website: https://sensiblepolitics.net/publications

Resource creation:
Curriculum development: Laura Price
Project management: Sara Wong
With special thanks to Debbie Challis.