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Becoming Humane The first thing a baby will respond to after birth is a human face. Each of us has a face that is a unique product of our ancestry, culture, and personality. We recognize the humanity in each other in our faces. Each person has a true face as well as a series of emotional masks. Masks allow us to wear the "face" we want the world to see. Indigenous peoples used masks in ceremony and ritual to identify with ancestors and abstract qualities valued by their cultures. Masks have been used in the arts to powerfully express emotion and identification with a culture's heroes and myths. Masks are also used to hide the true face. Whether voluntarily, as Halloween masks are used to frighten bad spirits away, or involuntarily, as when a group of people is stereotyped by their genetic background, masking is a powerful part of being human. Who are we? What masks do we wear? What masks do we project? Can we respect all people no matter how strange or foreign their masks? These are questions we hope to answer with our project...we hope our investigations will inspire you to look at the masks around you and at your own face...with insight, compassion, and understanding. "Being Human, Becoming Humane" is a project developed by English II students at Momence High School. Our website has been developed through guidance from the Museum at Southern Illinois University and from the Illinois State Board of Education's Museum in the Classroom Project grant. |
