The purpose of this unit is to encourage students to examine the way groups work together for the common good and understand how specific factions in communities preserve their culture through the arts. In a fun and creative activity, groups will consider how to be more effective in cooperative learning. Students will learn about the Bahamian Festival, Junkanoo, while making headdresses in groups. They will examine how group dynamics work, especially when minority rights need to be protected.

The learners will:

• locate the Bahamas on a globe and describe Junkanoo, the National Festival of the Bahamas.
  
• describe design concepts associated with Junkanoo.
  
• explain the importance of cooperation in a group.
  
• define terms related to community and group dynamics and write about community.
  
• explore the positive and negative effects of factions.
  
• design a Junkanoo headdress.
  
• make a headdress in the Junkanoo style.
  
• work cooperatively in groups and evaluate the group's work.
  
• participate in a Junkanoo-like parade and share his/her knowledge of Junkanoo with others.

Informal and formal assessments are included with each lesson.

Author's Note: I want to share the origins of this project, so that you will feel free to adapt this lesson to your own circumstances.

Bahamians take great pride in their Festival. Others can learn from their case history about the survival of culture through radical upheaval (in this case, slavery). This project has been an ongoing passion for me for the past ten years since I first saw Junkanoo! I was teaching in a racially diverse public school system in Cassopolis, Michigan, where there is a museum-house that was once a stop on the Underground Railroad. Lessons about slavery are important. The African-American Community in the Bahamas has struggled to define their identity, to gain a sense of pride in their culture and to assert their individual rights. When I saw Junkanoo, I felt there were lessons to be learned by comparing slavery in the Bahamas to slavery in the United States. I also feel that the way African roots are expressed in the Junkanoo Festival beautifully demonstrates how artistic expression communicates a heritage.