Living with the Enemy (ATOM Study Guide)

Living with the Enemy examines six issues currently polarising Australians in a unique way by getting participants to live with people whose lifestyles and opinions directly contradict their own. The issues included are same-sex marriage, African refugees and immigration, asylum seekers and detention, hunting and animal rights, decriminalisation of marijuana, and Islam.

The cases for and against are argued in the voices of the people involved, in their homes and at their places of work. A gay couple who are engaged to be married live with an Anglican minister opposed to same-sex marriage; a devout Muslim couple live with an Aussie 'patriot'; a Sudanese former refugee lives with an ultra-nationalist; a former 'boat person' lives with a woman who believes he should be deported; a former drug user lives with an old-school hippy who has smoked his own body weight in marijuana; a hunter who owns 280 guns lives with a vegan animal liberationist.

Each pairing has never met each other before they spend ten days together – five days in one world, then five days in the other. By the end of the ten days, each side will have argued their case via a series of immersive situations. Will they find a greater understanding of one another?

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This study guide, which covers widely divergent topics and issues, is mainly aimed at middle and upper secondary school levels, with relevance to English, Media Studies, History, Health and Human Development, Social Studies, Current Affairs, Environmental Studies, Philosophy and Ethics.