Sisters in Spirit

Sisters in Spirit, USF’s interfaith dialogue, featured three panelists, Toni Battle, Bhawana Kamil, and Mary Waskoviak, dialoging about their respective Native-American/Black Baptist, Muslim, and Catholic faiths. After the three panelists shared a bit about their work and backgrounds, a student moderator asked them to respond to the following questions: (1) How does being a woman affect your work? and (2) How does your religion affect your work? I thought Toni Battle’s response to the first question was one of the most relevant to our class. For her, strong interpersonal skills (which are generally associated with women) have been integral to her work educating young African American and Native American youth about their heritage.

Like the women in Cynthia Cockburn’s From Where We Stand, Toni sought open dialogue with the opposition (or in her case, a descendant of the opposition). Although Toni, whose family has lost not one, not two, but three men to lynching, confesses that she would be more comfortable staying far away from the descendant of a lyncher, she draws on her strong interpersonal skills and maintains regular contact with her in order to promote healing. She uses the wisdom she gains from the relationship with the lyncher descendant in her education of African American children, who if it weren’t for Toni, would have no idea about the United State’s atrocious lynching history.

Cote D'Ivoire Summary

Jones, Ann. "Cote D'Ivoire: "Grace A L'Appareil"" War Is Not over When It's Over: Women Speak out from the Ruins of War. New York: Metropolitan, 2010. 15-55. Print.

As a part of their “A Global Crescendo: Women’s Voices From Conflict Zones” photography project, Ann Jones & the International Rescue Committee gave digital cameras to women living in small Cote d’Ivoire villages where being a women meant being relegated to the role of indentured servant. The volunteers were instructed to take photos of their trials, tribulations, triumphs, and everything in between. This photo-project gave the previously silenced women the skills they needed to identify what they’d like to change about their lives, the ability to concretely capture their dissatisfactions, and the courage to publically speak out about the injustices they suffered. By the end of the project some of the women even went so far as to march for their rights. Although this project did not get the Cote d’Ivoire women to talk about the gender based violence they experienced as a result of the recent civil war, it was a huge success insofar as it empowered these women of Cote d’Ivoire to fight for their rights.

Allie, Helen, Kortney

Summary of D'Costa Case Study

Bina D'Costa's case study of women who were subjected to rape and sexual assault during and after the Independence War of Bangladesh accomplishes two main things: (1) Examines the theme of silence as a response or rationalization to these instances of rape and/or sexual assault and (2) Problematizes the governmental response to these instances which included rehabilitation programs, forced abortions, war-baby adoption programs, and a "marry them off" campaign (143). According to D'Costa, the women experienced three types of silence: (1) On the part of the successive government (2) self-imposed silence or "negotiated survival" and (3) Silencing from social workers, activists, and human rights groups. D'Costa reports a variety of personal and/or methodology challenges that informed her study, such as encouraging the women to share their experiences, formatting interview questions, and deciding whether to refer to the women as "survivors" or "victims".

Summary by Lisa, Helen, Valeria, and Jillian