|
Mills College and the Global Fund for Women are sponsoring the Transnational Feminist
Studies Project to stimulate public interest and debates in feminist theory and practice
related to militarism, peace, and security, democratization and politics, reproductive
rights and sexual politics, and women’s movements internationally. Feminist activists,
scholars and members of the Bay Area community will be invited to participate in public
outreach programs, community discussion forums, and skill-building exchanges that will
bring together activists from key women’s movements around the world.
Feminist Activist Exchange March 18–21, 2011
The second in the series, this event focuses on women’s activism and movement-building
across issues and regions. International activists and scholars from Asia, Eastern Europe,
and Latin America will join local activists and artists will address the work and challenges
of being activists and movement-builders through dialogue, interactive activities.
Purposes
Share information regarding the local conditions and issues faced by participants,
the focus of their activism, and the connections among them across location.
Exchange strategies and methods for their work including successes and lessons learned.
Discuss “diasporic communities” and their various, sometimes contradictory, roles and
relationships to “home” and in progressive social change work both “here” and “there.”
Engage in critical dialogue about both the strengths and challenges of applying the
civil rights and human rights frameworks to women’s issues.
Uncover and illuminate some of the major contradictions and hindrances within our
work and movements including the separation between “local” and “global.”
Explore keys issues around power, leadership, leadership-development, and
multi-generational interaction, support, and leadership transition.
Address issue of “burn-out,” healing, and self-care among activists.
Goals
Generate ideas about self-care and sustainability of activists.
Identify key principles for transnational feminist solidarity and activism.
Gather best practices of feminist work and new possibilities for addressing
leadership, power, and multigenerational leadership issues.
Generate collective vision for genuine security for women (as opposed to
prevailing “national security” version) and women’s movements that have the
possibility to realize this vision.
Conveners
Margo Okazawa-Rey, Barbara Lee Distinguished Chair in Women’s Leadership;
Visiting Professor of Ethnic Studies, Mills College
Charlotte Bunch, Professor, Rutgers University
Amina Mama, Director, Women and Gender Studies, UC Davis
Shalini Nataraj, Vice President of Programs, Global Fund for Women
Jacqueline Pitanguy, Director, Cepia (Citizenship, Studies, Information, Action)-(Brazil)
on Human Rights
Host
Dr. Janet L Holmgren, President, Mills College
International participants
Cristina Hardaga, Mexico
Mozn Hassan, Egypt
Debbie Kaddu-Serwadda, Uganda
Angela Kocze, Hungary
Kamilia Manaf, Indonesia
Lepa Mladjenovic, Serbia
Humaira Mumtaz Shaikh, Pakistan
Zawadi Nyong'o, Kenya
Emem Okon, Nigeria
Karmen Ramirez Boscan, Colombia
Gohar Shahnazaryan, Armenia
Local Participants
East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE)
Dignidad Rebelde (Artist group)
Design Action Collective
MLK Freedom Center
Muslim Advocates Against Violence (MAAV)
Thursday, April 21, 2011, "Rain," Film screening and conversation with filmmaker Maria Govan, 7:00 pm, Rothwell Center Student Union
Rain
Synopsis
“Maria Govan's first narrative feature, Rain, begins on the bucolic Ragged Island in the Bahamas. The titular character Rain is a young teen who was raised by her grandmother in this pastoral paradise. When the elderly woman dies, Rain seeks out her mother, whose last known address was in Nassau. Upon landing in Nassau's harbor, Rain meets her mother Glory (Nicki Micheaux) for the first time. The realities of both her new home and new caregiver are so far from those of her former idyll that it takes time to adjust. She is befriended by the school track coach, (CCH Pounder), who spots the youngster's grace and speed, so well developed on the beaches of her home island. With a strong visual aesthetic and an even stronger cast, Rain shakes off our postcard perceptions of Bahamian life to show us the complexity that lies between Ragged Island and the Nassau few tourists see.” Toronto International Film Festival, 2008
Tuesday, April 26, “Witches of Gambaga” Film screening with Director Yaba Badoe; Producer Amina Mama, 7:30 pm, Danforth Lecture Hall
Witches of Gambaga
Synopsis
The Witches of Gambaga is the extraordinary story of a community of women condemned to live as witches in Northern Ghana. Made over the course of five years, this disturbing expose is the product of a collaboration between members of the 100-strong community of ‘witches’ and women’s movement activists determined to end abusive practices and improve women’s lives in Africa. Painful experience and insight come together to create an intimate portrait of the lives of women ostracized by their communities. Told largely by the women themselves, their incredible stories and struggles are conveyed to a wide range of audiences by the director’s narration. The film was completed in July 2010 by Fadoa Films Ghana and UK. It was warded Second Prize in the documentary section of FESPACO, 2011, Africa's biggest film festival. It won Best Documentary at the Black International Film Festival in the UK. I has been selected for screening at the 18th New York African Film Festival in April, 2011. San Francisco Bay Area Premier.
For more information about any of these events, please contact Professor Margo Okazawa-Rey
at 510.430.2277 or mokazawarey@mills.edu.
 |
