Final Blog Post

Throughout our blog posts, we have discessed the many facets of the ongoing strain between France and its Muslim population, as well as the string of terror attacks that have occurred throughout the country over the past several years. We began with analyzing the roots of the problem, looking into French imperialism in the region during the colonial era to better understand where these issues stem from. We then took these historical accounts and linked them to modern day issues that the country faces to show a clear connection between the two eras. We then went into how these strained relations have affected actual policy that is being made today. By analyzing French military actions and anti-Muslim legislation created in response to the attacks, we are able to see how the tension between these groups continues to exist. We also researched details of many of the major attacks that have taken place over the past several years, from the 2015 Charlie Hebdo bombings in Paris to the most recent Bastille Day truck attack in Nice, to more fully understand what it is these terrorists are doing during the attacks.

At the beginning of each post, we would determine what aspects of the issue we wanted to discuss and how the post should be broken down into subsets. We decided that it would be best for us to assign each person to work on a different aspect of the blog (i.e. each subhead of information was completed by a different person) and we would all come together when we were finished to create and post the final blog. Since we decided together which topics in the blog were going to be discussed, everyone was able to understand the overall theme of the post and tailor their section to fit. When we got together on the Sundays that the blogs were due, we would ensure that the post flowed nicely and kept a consistent style. Since everyone was able to focus more deeply into a specific subject of the post, we tried to cover a broad variety of topics to deliver a well rounded entry.  

I did learn quite a bit about why the current strains between France and her Islamic population still continue to persist, and I think this information will prove useful to me as an International Studies major and French minor. Until now, I had not looked too deeply into France’s colonies in the Middle East as compared to some other regions, and I’m glad I was able to explore this more in depth. As for working in a group, I’m often uneasy because I fear the ideas of both someone letting the group down and letting the group down myself. I much prefer when I am in complete control my grade and of the final product, and I wish that there would’ve been an alternative project we could’ve chosen to complete individually rather than with a group. I’m glad that I was able to do research on a relevant topic of my choice and I think that, with possibly a bit of adjustment, the idea of having a group project focused on a current event over the semester could work very well.