Final Group Projects on Franco-American Debates

We blogged in November about the group projects for our HIS/IST class on topics widely seen as dividing the United States and France.  Over the past two weeks, student pairs have presented debates on questions ranging from gun control to immigration, feminism, and business.  Each pair staged an exchange, framed within the context of French and American history and politics, between a French and American woman.  The pairs then facilitated the class' continued discussion based on the information presented.

Caroline and Hannah presented two women riding the Métro who fell into conversation after one noticed the other reading an article on immigration.

Renee and Tessla organized a panel at an international women's studies conference on different theoretical and practical approaches to feminism in France and the United States.

Kianna and Meredith orchestrated a pre-breakfast exchange between an American host mother and her French exchange student over gun culture and control in the two countries. (We all laughed when the American host mother began by asking the French exchange student to put out her cigarette and the French exchange student requested a cappuccino or espresso.)

Andrea and Annie explored the different business cultures and practices manifest in France and the United States through a meeting between an American high-level executive and a French applicant for a position with J.P. Morgan.