UNIT 2: CREATIVITY AND CRITICAL THINKING This learning unit urges learners to critically reflect on how borders and belonging are defined and shaped on our planet and on the fairness of a system that leaves stateless people feeling excluded from society. 1.2 A: WELCOME TO EARTH The way borders and belonging are organised and undertaken here on earth is not an inherent system. On the contrary, it was created and developed over time so there is plenty of room for change and improvement. Learning from each other by exchanging perceptions on citizenship and thinking about how it is experienced in different contexts can help us reflect on the fairness of the system. The starting point should be that everyone has a right to belong. Welcome to earth is a creative activity that cultivates learners’ critical thinking and their ability to collaborate as a group to inquire into how borders and belonging are organised on Earth, identify the drawbacks of our system and re-imagine the way it is shaped. 1. 2 B: STORYTELLING STATELESSNESS Not having a nationality can influence the way stateless people go through life. It creates a lot of hardships and restricts what they are able to do and where they are able to go. As stateless people do not officially “belong” anywhere and are considered outsiders no matter which side of the border they are on, they often feel unwelcome and excluded from society. Storytelling statelessness is a creative writing project challenging participants to express their thoughts on the exclusion stateless people face and the fairness of a system that allows for that to happen. This way learners can understand and empathise with the life stateless people lead and the hardships they might face. 18