Senior Bridget Farmer, from Springfield, Massachusetts, is completing a dual major in political science and international affairs (University Honors in Major program) with a minor in French. Her summer 2009 research was part of an international affairs capstone project and was funded by an International Research Opportunity Program grant from the University of New Hampshire. Discussions in her French courses of laïcité and the 2005/2006 Paris riots combined with her background in politics to interest her in interviewing Muslims in France. As Bridget reflects upon her experience, she notes how living in a foreign city such as Dijon, though intimidating at first, was essential to becoming familiar with the city, its residents, and its culture. Bridget’s summer project and her Inquiry article (her second) allow her to reflect on the research process while continuing to satisfy her interest in minority groups. After graduation, Bridget would like to continue doing research, with a focus on minority groups and children.
Claire Malarte-Feldman, Professor of French in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures as well as the faculty director of the Center for International Education and the Study-in-Dijon Program, has been on the faculty of the University of New Hampshire since 1984. Although she specializes in seventeenth-century and contemporary French children’s literature, she particularly enjoys teaching topics in contemporary French culture. Dr. Malarte-Feldman can proudly claim to be a major influence on Bridget’s research interests as she taught the Honors seminar, “France and the European Union,” in which she and Bridget found their mutual interest in issues of French identity. “Bridget is a particularly bright student,” Dr. Malarte-Feldman said. “Her topic is quite timely: the issue surrounding French identity and France’s Muslim population is a burning question that begs for further investigation. Her research among some of Dijon’s Muslim communities is an important start in the right direction.”
Nadine Berenguier, Associate Professor of French in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, has been on the faculty of the University of New Hampshire for fourteen years and specializes in eighteenth-century French literature. Bridget was a student in several of her courses in which issues of immigration and French identity were discussed. Dr. Berenguier was in France herself during Bridget’s research and became her foreign mentor. Not only did Dr. Berenguier gain an appreciation of Bridget’s ability to incorporate feedback from a mentor, she also valued Bridget’s first-hand knowledge of the effects on Dijon Muslims of the French principle of laïcité and the laws that embody it.
Read Bridget Farmer’s commentary Practicing Islam in Dijon, France: Interviews with Muslim Residents >>
