Syrian Participants

Rahaf Biazy

I am 20 years old. I study Law in Damascus University. I would like to be a special person in my life. And therefore, I would like to study more and more to reach success. I am here because I would like to correct these old traditions and customs because I feel that we have a wrong thinking that women only live to marry, get pregnant, and work in their husbands’ houses.

Zena Biazy

I’m Zena. I am 21 years old and I come from Damascus. I study translation in Damascus University. I participated in this project because I am tired of the old traditions and customs. I want to develop myself to become stronger and face the old thinking. To be my own self. Zena herself. And I wish that this experience with the Gender & Emancipation Project will be successful.

Zeina Irheim

I’m Zeina. I’ve graduated from the media school in Damascus University. I am working as a journalist in a website magazine and Orient TV, a new TV channel. I’m in the fourth year of translation in Open Learning University. I am interested in this training for many reasons. Being a girl who grew up in a conservative environment, I became active as a social worker and volunteered 5 years ago to work with an NGO. I am working hard to improve my skills with training to contribute more effectively in my society. I see, as an observer, how the stereotype of female/woman is abstracting women’s ambitions and reducing their choices in life. I am going to use what I am learning here in my everyday life with my friends and colleagues and will use the ideas I am going to learn in the program for my own investigation that I am working on.

Lucy Issa

I’m Lucy Issa and I am 23 years old. I studied social sciences and I’m working as a social counsellor, I started as a volunteer with the Association for Strengthening Women’s Role at the Institution for Delinquent Girls. I wanted to be part of this study because I’m interested in Human’s Rights and women who are considered like a lower class in my society.

Raghad Muhammad Jigel

My name is Raghad Jigel. I am 20 years old. I am an Architecture student. I studied at J.U.S.T, the Jordan University of Science & Technology for the first two years. This year I was transferred to Damascus University. And they made me repeat my second year here according to their transferring rules, which brought me down so much. But in an another way, it made me search for what I would like in life. My dreams expanded beyond what it used to be. I felt, I need to give more to reach a better me! Gender is a completely new field for me. It is different. And “different” is something that I always search for. To be different, special, to be creative. I believe that Women’s rights could open doors & free our minds so we can move forward. I am not trying to be perfect, because no one is! But I look for success and I would like to make a change because I am not just a moment in time!

Reem Khamis

My name is Reem Khamis, I’m 21 years old, I graduated last summer from the Journalism Department, and now I’m doing a Master in Social and Political Science. I’m very much interested in participating in the “Gender & Emancipation” project because I don’t want to be a mere spectator but rather an active member who tries to improve the condition of women in my society.

Nour Kilani

My name is Nour Kilani, I’m 22 years old and I’m studying Media & Journalism in Damascus University. I still have one subject to graduate. I’m interested in women issues because we need to change our laws relating to women in Syria. And we should give “her” more space to take the lead in Society. But before all, we need to change our customs, traditions and the way people think and act towards women in our society. We have a lack of knowledge about women issues, such as laws and religions. So I’m glad to be part of this project that brings the possibility of knowing more about women issues in different countries, cultures and religions.

Nour Riad Mahfouz

My name is Nour Mahfouz. I’m 23 years old. I’m a student of law in Damascus University and I’ll be graduated next year. I am also studying French at the French Cultural Centre. I like to read novels and my favourite writer is Ahlam Al Mostaghanmi. I even like to write myself about what I like and feel as in diaries. I took part in this project ‘cause I really think that women’s rights in this country, and in the Arab world in general, are suppressed by law and ignored. And there is a lot of discrimination that women face everyday in our society. And I really hope that we can change this reality to the better.

Rami Nakhla

My name is Rami Nakhla and I am 25 years old. I am a student in the college of political sciences (International & Diplomatic studies program) and I work with the team of Syrian women observe. Our traditions separate the society into two on the bases of sex. Those two parts, feminine and masculine, created different separated roles for each sex without a logical sense. I am interested in making a difference about this and today I have found many people who share the same interest and now we are working together.

Razan Rachidi

My name is Razan Rashidi, I was born in Damascus, Syria and I spent my whole life absorbing the oriental traditions and customs. In 2003 I joined the journalism school in Damascus University because I thought it will bring a space where I can deliver my thoughts and impressions in order to influence the development of my society. During my four years in journalism section I concentrated on children’s’ journalism and Media, the social reaction on sensitive issues and the emerging of NGOs in Syria. After my graduation in July 2007, I joined the UNICEF, and I am still working, as a communication assistant. Due to my work I have access to many shocking data about the situation of children and women in Syria. That’s why when I first heard about the Gender & Emancipation Project I became interested in joining it knowing that we can, as a young group who are coming from different backgrounds, try to combine our points of views and produce something that we can share with others. Knowing that this project is a multi national one attracted me because I would love to benefit from other cultures’ experiences and at the same time try to deliver an honest and realistic message about my world.

Fida Salloum

My name is Fida Salloum. I’m 22 years old and I just graduated from Media and Journalism from Damascus University. I worked for four months as an editor in a news website. Then at the beginning of this year, I decided to make a change in my life by becoming more effective in our society. Therefore, when I have been told about the Gender & Emancipation Project I felt that I found my chance. To be honest, I wasn’t so involved in feminism or gender issues before. I am a supporter of equality between men and women in rights, law and roles but was not active since I grew up in a family that did not discriminate between men and women at all. But when I heard some stories about Syrian girls and women who suffered from the law and the society, I was shocked and for the first time in my life I came to see the full truth about our community and laws that see women as weak, as if they are not able to do anything except for cooking, cleaning, taking care of children, etc. And this reality led me to decide that I want to change this traditional idea of women’s roles and know more about gender and rights. So I can be one of those who are active in women’s issues and work to make a difference in the community, the laws and the Syrian life.

Qamar Salloum

I am Qamar Salloum, I’m 28 years old and I come from Hama in central Syria. I graduated from the English Literature Faculty in Damascus. Today, I work in an electronic magazine, Thara, which is concerned with children and women issues and it works on defending women’s rights. I participated in the Gender & Emancipation Project because I want to know more about gender issues in the world, I like to defend women’s rights here in my country and in the world and I believe that this project is going to be a very valuable experience for me.

U.S. Participants

Zulal Akin

Zulal Akin is a Ph.D. student in Art Education with a specialization on Cultural Policy and Arts Administration in the Ohio State University. Her research interests are cultural policy, museum administration, cultural identity/citizenship, and gender studies.

Sarah Carnahan

Sarah (Say) Carnahan holds a B.A. in Women's Studies from the University of Maine at Farmington, and she is currently working toward an M.A. in Women's Studies from The Ohio State University. Specifically, she is interested in researching non-traditional women's war narratives - narratives that take the form of blog entries, visual narratives, graphic novels, poetry, etc. - through a transnational feminist feminist lens.

Naazneen Diwan

Naazneen Diwan is currently a graduate student pursuing degrees in Arabic language and Women's Studies from The Ohio State University. Her research interrogates French colonial regulation of sexual behavior and criminal law in Syria. In the recent past she has served as a UNICEF volunteer in Syria and an intern at Al-Thara.

Laura Evans

Laura Evans is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Art Education with a specific interest in Museum Education. She returns to school after an academic fellowship at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Laura continues to teach and work for the NGA as well as for museums in the OSU area like the Wexner Center for Contemporary Art and the Columbus Museum of Art. All of these experiences will help to inform her research, which she hopes will revolve around issues of femininity in museums spaces.

Nicole Jackson

I am a master's student in the Department of History currently writing a master's thesis on student anti-apartheid activism in the late twentieth century United States. This study will examine the racial and gendered implications of anti-apartheid as an international social justice cause.

Christina Holmes

Christy Holmes is the treasurer of Transnational Feminisms Organization and an organizer for the US group of the Gender and Emancipation project. She is a PhD student in the Department of Women's Studies at the Ohio State University. Her research and teaching interests include transnational and postcolonial feminist theory, ecofeminism, coalition politics and social movements, women’s religious engagement, film and cultural studies.

Jessica R. Pliley

Jessica R. Pliley is a Ph.D. Candidate in Women's History at the Ohio State University. She is co-chair of the Women's History Workshop and managing editor of Twentieth-Century China. Her research examines the sexual and racial politics surrounding American legislation against white slavery.

Anne Price

Anne Price is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at Ohio State University. Her research interests are comparative and political sociology. Her previous research has examined the individual and national level factors that influence attitudes toward women in the public sphere cross-nationally, and the potential for political action in a selection of countries in the Middle East.

Molly Uline-Olmstead

Molly Uline-Olmstead is a graduate student in Art Education with a specialization on Cultural Policy and Arts Administration at the Ohio State University. Her background is in visual arts and her research interests include women's art and craft, feminist research methodologies including ARTography and autoethnography, and museum studies.

Lauran Whitworth

Lauran Whitworth is a graduate student in the History of Art department at The Ohio State University. Her research interests include art theory and critical museum studies, queer theory, and issues surrounding the commodication of cultures and transnational exchange. As a former high school humanities instructor, she is increasingly interested in educational reform through feminist-based pedagogical techniques and curriculum.

Yan Xu

Yan Xu is a Ph.D. student in the Department of History at the Ohio State University. She studies representions and mobilizations of women during the Sino-Japanese War.

German Participants

Askin-H Dogan

Hi, my name is Askin-H. Dogan. I am 28 years old and I study turkic and islamic studies at the Free University Berlin. My special interests are homosexuality and bioethics in Turkey, especially with regard to islamic religion. Currently I work on a paper about homosexuality and military service. Furthermore, I am a translator (German and Turkish) and work voluntarily in two NGOs for immigrants.

Carolin Fiedler

Carolin Fiedler is currently a graduate student in political science at the Free University of Berlin. Hitherto she has been engaged in studying German and North-American gender theories. Furthermore she is interested in Critical Whiteness Studies und Postcolonial Theory as well as she starts to learn more about Queer Theory. She is looking forward to an interesting and exciting exchange which challenges her to reflect her own point of view.

Tina Flegel

My name is Tina, Im 24 years old and I have studied political science since 2002. First, I was interested in development studies and nation building. I wrote some papers about both topics and did my pre-diploma about the civil war in Sierra Leone. Afterwards, in 2004, I decided that I wanted to see "Africa" and I spent six months in Togo. It was a great trip and I had some really nice experiences. But for the first time I felt white and I felt a sort of disrespect towards me as a woman. So I slowly became interested in womens rights also, which is why I'm interested in this project.

Mirjam Hirsch

Mirjam Hirsch studies Gender Studies and Modern History on a MA level at Humboldt University of Berlin and Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is currently organzing and implementing an autonomous class about Argentine tango and gender at the Transdisciplinary Center for Gender Research. Special current interests: argentine tango in theory and practice, social movements, latin america, post colonial and critical whiteness theories, autonomous lerning, feminist theories and emancipation.

Jean Peters

My Name is Jean, and I have been living in Berlin for four years, working as clownin performances and workshops, studying political science, and living the Berlin life as intensively as I can. But why am I interested in this course? I have participated and coordinated the circus group "Circolibre“ since 2004, basically exchanging circus skills with partners in Israel and Palestinian Territories, where I experience a strong dissonance between the internationals approaches and the regional realities. Implementing outcomes of feminist studies on projects of the civil society is an extremely complex step, as the fund raising application paper, where it usually will be described, will never reveal. The intercultural communication skills and possibilities of self-reflection, the confrontation of dissonance and open-minded approaches to totally different paradigms are theoretically a good way of dealing with these problems. Still, the grade of possible emancipation depends on the individuals involved in such projects. In this context I welcome the approach to deconstruct broad categorizations of gender, regional belonging, political or religious ideologies. Or rather to approach the individual without disregarding the complex process of socialization and future possibilities. I am especially interested in methodical approaches to intercultural-emancipative communication. I am working on different political theories starting from Fichte and Hegel to Jessica Benjamin, recently Axel Honneth and along side Mouffe and Laclau amongst others.

Laura Werres

I am Laura, B.A. student of Performing Arts Studies, French and Studies of Middle Eastern Culture in Berlin. I'm especially interested in theatre education and theatre in it's social, political and gender context. I am currently developing some scenes, in research about the relevance of Simone de Beauvoirs "the second sex" to the current situation. I have been working at the International Theatre Institute Berlin as an assistant for a workshop for women artists from countries with an islamic backround.

Sudanese Participants

Kouther

Kouther is 25 years old, a graduate of agriculture college department of food science and technology 2006. Working as a coordinator at the faculty of Community Development and Women Studies, Gadarif University.

Muntsir

Muntsir is 31 years old, currently an MBA student in university of Kharotum, Sudan, working in the International NGO Mercy Malaysia, Humanitarian and medical relief field.

Sally

Sally holds a BSC in social and economics studies and also higher diploma in applied sociology. Currently an MBA student at Khartoum University. Her main interest is the connection between gender and Islam.

Wafaa

Wafaa is 24 year old and graduated from University Of Khartoum Department of Economic and Social Studies (2006) and has just registered for master’s degree in social anthropology. Her main interests are gender, human rights, and citizenship.

Salma Abdalla

Salma Abdalla was born in 1984. She holds an M.Sc in political science from the University of Khartoum. She is currently a research assistant in the Peace Research Institute at the University of Kartoum. Her area of interests are Christians-Muslim relations and development studies.

Hiba Asim

Hiba Asim is a 21-year-old student at Ahfad University for Women’s School of Organizational Management, where she is gaining a specialization in business administration. She has worked with different companies and banks as a trainee and an intern. She is currently conducting her thesis research in the field of gender budgeting and is interested in pursuing more studies in this field in the future. She was awarded the prize of Outstanding Debater in the 2008 National English Language Debate in Sudan and Champion Debater in the 2007 National English language debate.

Tamador Hussein

Tamador Hussein is graduated with a degree in social and economic studies from the University of Juba’s Department of Political Science in June 2005. She is mainly interested in social work and social activities.

Afag Mohammed Sadig

Afag Mohammed Sadig, born in 1975, is an academic researcher and social worker. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Juba where she works as a lecturer in the department of political science. She also volunteers in a local Nubian NGO as the ( women and child) head officer.

Asma Shamseldin

Asma Shamseldin is a mother of two and works as a Dietitian at the Police Hospital. She is mainly interested in connecting gender with her field of work and in programs that aim at developing nutrition and health technical performance in developing countries. She is also interested in studying the challenges of gender in Islamic countries.