San Farncisco State University Launches the "Gender and Sexuality in the Global South: Arab and Muslim Communities" Project

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 4th, 2010

Contact: Mira Nabulsi, Jackie Husary

Office: (415) 405-2668;

MEDIA ADVISORY: San Farncisco State University Launches the "Gender and Sexuality in the Global South: Arab and Muslim Communities" Project.

The Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative (AMED) at San Francisco State University hosts feminist activists from Iran, Iraq and Palestine Wednesday March 10th, in collaboration with the College of Ethnic Studies, Muslim Women Students Association and Race and Resistance Department at SFSU.

Palestinian Ambassador Somaia Barghouti, Iranian Professor Shouleh Vatanabadi from NYU, Iraqi Doctor Dahlia Wasfi and Professor Rabab Abdulhadi of the Race and Resistance Department and the senior scholar at AMED will join Wednesday March 10^th at the Jack Adams Hall in the Cezar Chavez Student Center in discussing women's conditions, challenges and activism in Palestine, Iran and Iraq as well as in the Arab and Muslim diasporas. The event will also include film screenings and discussions on people's struggles, human rights, justice and peace in these countries with a diverse group of the Bay Area scholars and activists.

The keynote panel and the film screenings are organized in honor of Women Herstory Month and is timed to coincide with AMED's launch of its project on "Gender and Sexuality in the Global South: The Arab and Muslim Communities". The project aims to research, teach and disseminate information and analysis on conditions of women and dynamics of gender and sexuality in the Arab and Muslim communities, it will entail North-South collaborations; scholar and student exchange visits to various locations around the world; study abroad program; face-to-face and video conferences; and the publications of books, articles and essays on these issues.

Speakers will be available for interviews during the day, if interested please call of email.

Program:

Reading, wRioting and Reclaiming Feminism(s) Empowerment and the Crisis in Public Education

2010 11^th Annual Public Lectures Series for Women's History Month and International Women's Day

"Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Global South: Arab and Muslim Communities"

7 - 9:30 pm: Keynote Panel

"Gender and Sexuality Studies in the Global South: Arab and Muslim Communities" Homelands and Diasporas: Women's Activism-Iraq, Iran, Palestine, & U.S.A.

Keynote speakers:

Ambassador Somaia Barghouti

Palestine Observer Mission to the United Nations, New York.

Dr. Shouleh Vatanabadi
Professor of literature and Middle East Studies at NYU and a long time feminist activist.

Dr. Dahlia Wasfi
An internationally known speaker and activist. Known for her support of immediate, unconditional withdrawal of American forces from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Moderator:

Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies/Race and Resistance Studies; Senior Scholar, Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative (AMED), SFSU.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010, 9:00 am - 10:00 pm . Jack Adams Hall. Cesar Chavez Student Center. San Francisco State University

Chronicles of Women in the Global South: Arab and Muslim Communities”: Film Series with Post-Screening Discussions with Scholars and Activists

This Program is brought to you by: The Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative (AMED), Race and Resistance Studies Program, Muslim Women Students Association, and the College of Ethnic Studies.

For more information and program details, please contact AMED at (415) 405-2668 or email: amedstaf@sfsu.edu