ISIS Group Reflection

ISIS Group Reflection

Through the ISIS blog assignment, my group members and I worked to gain and distribute engaging and informative information about the militant group ISIS. In the short amount of the time that we had, we were able to publish four different blog posts- each detailing different aspects of the organization of ISIS. First, we provided a short timeline and general overview of ISIS, explaining the origins of the militant group and events leading up to the formation of ISIS. Then, we explored the role of women in ISIS. This included explaining the deep social and political inequities between men and women in the extremist ISIS narrative, as well as exploring ISIS’ surprising use of women in combat- as seen in the example of al-Khansaa. We then revealed ISIS’ different sources of income- including robbery, the taxation of hostage communities, the selling of oil, and ransom money. Lastly, we discussed the use of propaganda via social media- including ISIS’ use of public beheadings of Americans as a recruitment tool for Western viewers.

Because of the ever-developing story of ISIS and Islamic extremism in the middle-east, our group relied heavily on breaking stories via the internet. For many reasons, this was an incredible resource and tool for us as we were able to access an array of stories and opinions from different countries and perspectives… but for those same reasons, we sometimes found it challenging to find stories that we felt were completely objective and true. But, I felt that in many ways we solved this issue by presenting the different perspectives that we felt came from reliable and reputable sources. To this same effect, working in a group setting helped our blog achieve a higher level objectivity and a broader sense of perspective. I felt that this was a result of the natural cross examination of sources and information that must happened when working in a group setting (as opposed to gathering information and writing the blog yourself).

From this blog project, I feel that I have become a better group member, that I have learned more about ISIS and it’s influence on middle eastern and international politics, and that I have learned/formed the habit of active and thorough research with scrutiny, especially when dealing with breaking news from faraway places. I felt that I became a better group members because this specific blog project require both independent research, as well as out-of-class group work- keeping each of us accountable for both the research and execution of every post. I felt that I learned a lot about ISIS and it’s influence in the middle east through my time investment in the issue through this assignment- whether it were for a specific post or not. Lastly, through research and exposure to so many different sources of information and opinion, I felt that I gained a certain level of academic scrutiny when dealing with international politics: learning to question the information I gather and understanding that no news is without bias.

Teamwork!