Our group studied the genocide in the Central African
Republic. We first covered the history and context of the conflict; it’s main
players, and its overall effect on the Central African Republic. Our subsequent
blog posts were about major developments in the conflict over the course of the
semester while consistently referring back to the greater context of the story.
The greatest factor in the conflict is that the Central African Republic is an
already unstable, impoverished, and battered nation, which the conflict only
makes worse. While the conflict may be between two religious groups, it is affecting
all of the Central African Republic and will continue to do so for many years.
Most of the information I used for my research came from
news sources such as the BBC, New York Times, and Al Jazeera. Those news
outlets had the most up-to-date and reliable information, though I occasionally
turned to more informal blogs for more personal information and takes on the
conflict. Mostly my job was editing the information and writing while also
contributing some of my own research. While I don’t normally enjoy working in
groups, preferring to work alone, this experience was enjoyable. All the group
members were interested in the topic, hard-working, and interesting people to
talk to.
What this project has taught me is that the best way to
learn about a new topic is to directly engage with it. Writing blog posts about
the conflict in the CAR, doing the research, and talking to other people about
it really helped me gain a greater appreciation for the issues and their
broader context. I learned about a conflict that I had never heard about,
learned more about a continent that I knew little about, and learned how to
work in a group of people I knew little about. Overall, this project taught me
more about the topic and about working in a group than just sitting in a
classroom and passively learning the material.
PS: Here's a great video on the conflict in the CAR.
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