Throughout this
semester, my group covered the Central African Republic. We have talked about
the history of the conflict that has been taking place there, and we have
provided periodic updates about what has been happening in that country. This
conflict has various factors that we have identified, and many more that we
were unable to address. My group has also taken the time to address what
various leaders in the Central African Republic want to see in terms of ending
the genocide that has been happening. We explained what brought about this
conflict that has been termed as almost being ‘genocide.’
Personally, I enjoy
completing research projects and activities because I find them interesting.
For this particular assignment, I was always the first person in my group to
complete the research tasks that were distributed to me because I have a
tendency to do things ahead of time, so I would keep up with the events that
were happening in the Central African Republic even when we did not have to
write about them. I tried to choose the most interesting and the most relevant
articles to include in the group blog. I also made sure to include the links
already in APA for my peers to add on to throughout the allotted amount of time
we had to create each blog. I would then respond to the group email that one of
my other team members would create to make sure that everyone knew that I had
posted in our Google Doc, what my topic area was about, and that I had cited my
sources. Sometimes I would receive questions, or helpful critiques from my
peers. I really liked this because it allowed me to have the opportunity to go
back over my portion of our group assignment to improve or change it for the
greater good of our grade. I would also double check to make sure I answered
the questions asked in the blog assignment sheet we received, along with any
other potential questions that could be asked when reading the portion of the
blog post that I wrote. For example, for the first entry I wrote about the
emergence of the events that took place in Central African Republic, always
keeping in mind the fact that not everyone knows what is happening in that
country and who the groups are that are involved in the conflict of this
country. I also had to remain aware of how I approached the blog overall
because I was not working alone. With that in mind I was always kind of trying
to make sure I did not contribute too much or too little because I knew there
were other individuals who still had to participate in puttying our entries
together as well.
I really did not know much about what was happening in the Central African Republic until doing this project. I'd heard bits and pieces about what was going on, but joining this group allowed me to really increase my knowledge in this area, and I continue to do so after the semester ends. This project helped me
tremendously because it actually served as a highlighter for quite a few of the
concepts we learned about in class, making it easier for me to remember them
and be able to talk about them outside of class. I also learned that I could
start out feeling one way about an issue and have my opinion change or become a
little confused, but that’s okay. I learned that when the need for
international intervention in this type of conflict is identified, the means of
going about how to execute that intervention without adding more issues to the
problem is not always easy. I also observed how identity politics is driving
such a great wedge between members of the same country. This assignment taught
me that sometimes group projects can actually work out when everyone finds
their niche in being able to successfully contribute to the work of the group.
Source: N/A. (2014, March 10). Central African Republic: UN
launches human rights probe. Retrieved from BBC News:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26515759
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