In celebration of International Women's Day,
the Library presented a symposium titled "Life
Lines: The Literature of Women's Human Rights" on Wednesday,
March 7, 2001. The event, presented by the Library's African and Middle
Eastern Division and the Women's Learning Partnership, was free and
open to the public. Participants in the program read from their works, which reflect
the discrimination women have faced in various parts of the world.
They also described women of courage and vision who have made a difference,
and who have challenged traditional stereotypes. Mahnaz Afkhami acted as the event moderator. Speakers
included Leila
Ahmed, professor of Women's Studies at Harvard Divinity School,
the author of a recently published autobiographical book, A Border
Passage from Cairo to America: A Woman's Journey. Before joining
Harvard, she was the director of both the Women's Studies Program
and the Near Eastern Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts
in Amherst, and wrote critical studies on Muslim women including,
Women and Gender in Islam. Goli
Taraghi, could not attend. Ms. Taraghi is a short story writer and
novelist and is the author of The Great Lady of My Soul and
has written the scripts for two major Iranian films, Pear Tree
and Bita. Her presentation was read by
Dr Alee Azav Nefisseh of the Nitze School of Advanced International
Studies.
Abena
Busia, a Ghanian poet and writer, received her doctorate from
Oxford University and is currently an English professor at Rutgers
University. She is the author of Theorizing Black Feminism
and Testimonies in Exile. Marjorie Agosin teaches in the Spanish Department at Wellesley College.
She was recently honored with the United Nations Leadership Award
for Human Rights. Her many works include An Absence of Shadow,
Always from Somewhere Else, My Jewish Fathers, and an anthropology
of women's writings on human rights, A Map of Hope. Emma Sepulveda is a professor in the foreign Language and Literature Department at the University of Nevada and a columnist for the Reno Gazette Journal. She is the author of Testimonio Ferenio como Escritura Contestataria. The Women's Leaning Partnership is a private organization that supports women around the world.
Photos by Megan Brown Read more on the event :"Life Lines: The Literature of Women's Human Rights" |
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