2004 FromCenter the SPRING CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF WOMEN IN SOCIETY · UNIVERSITY OF The Borders of Human Security: Bringing Geopolitics Home ow are economic security, hu- the international policy community. Heyzer, man and civil rights, and national who received her education at the Univer- Hsecurity related in our lives? In what sity of Singapore and Cambridge University, ways are globalization and militarization has been at the helm of UNIFEM since 1994 racialized and gendered processes producing advocating models of development that pro- security for some and vulnerabilities for oth- mote economic security and the empower- ers? How might international, national, and ment of women and their families. In addi- local security policies be different if their tion to work with women migrant workers at core goals included the community level, reducing poverty, workers in the informal violence, and racial, sector and free trade ethnic, and gender zones, and women inequalities? These are who have experienced some of the questions domestic and other to be addressed by an forms of violence, eminent group of social Heyzer has also been a scientists, lawyers, policy adviser to Asian labor leaders, and com- governments and a munity advocates at a founding member of conference sponsored such groups as Devel- by CSWS May 20–21, opment Alternatives 2004. with Women for a New INSIDE The borders we will Era (DAWN). examine are both material and metaphorical. A series of panels on Friday features centerview ...... 2 They are policed national and community distinguished scholars and advocates who borders. They are limits and restrictions that will discuss the effects of violence that upcoming...... 3 differentially affect citizens and noncitizens result from war, political confl ict, terrorism and people from different racial, ethnic, and and the war on terrorism; human rights, rig profi les ...... 4 class communities. They are boundaries immigration, and work; the production kudos...... often invisible to those with economic and of economic insecurities in the context 5 social privilege, but palpable to those who of globalization; and the efforts of local, creative center...... 6 experience racism, gender subordination, or national, and international groups to promote class inequality. human security. Among the panelists are news...... 8 Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of Dorothy Roberts, Northwestern School of the United Nations Development Fund for Law and author of Killing the Black Body: awards ...... 10 Women (UNIFEM), will open the confer- Race Reproduction and the Meaning of ence by exploring the concept of human Liberty; Cynthia Cockburn, City University in members ...... 11 security—an alternative security paradigm London and author of The Space Between Us: author’s note...... that has captured the attention of many in 12 Continued on page 2 2 centerview CSWS Receives National Award he National Council for Research on TWomen (NCRW) chose the Center for the Study of Women in Society as an organi- zational honoree at its annual Women Who Make a Difference celebration. CSWS Direc- tor Sandra Morgen accepted the award at a gala dinner in New York City on March 11, 2004. The award recognizes both outstanding women leaders and organizations working in a variety of disciplines for their unique abil- ity to project their visions for a better world onto local, national, and global landscapes. The award letter recognizes CSWS for its “outstanding work linking research, theory, and rendered expert testimony to legislative and policy and the profound impact it has and agency committees concerning the limits Photo: NCRW honorees front of welfare reform in reducing poverty or eco- row left to right: Susan Bailey, had on the community, and in particular the executive director, Wellesley Northwest region.” nomic hardship for low-income families. In Centers for Women, Wellesley Maria Hinojosa, CNN urban affairs cor- addition, their work with advocates for low- College; Geeta Rao Gupta, respondent, hosted the gala event at the income women helped successfully change president, International Center state policy so that some welfare recipients for Research on Women; Dina Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City. Dublon, executive vice presi- The award particularly singles out the can fulfill mandated work requirements dent and chief financial of- activities of the Women in the Northwest through higher education. Finally, Policy ficer, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; initiative, whose members conducted and Matters, the series that brings CSWS research Mamphela Ramphele, manag- and expertise to bear on public policy con- ing director, the World Bank; broadly disseminated the findings of a major Ingrid Saunders Jones, senior two-year study of the impact of welfare re- cerns, grew out of the initiative’s work. To vice president, corporate form policy in Oregon. Related to the study, date the series has focused on family policy, external affairs, the Coca-Cola initiative members produced policy briefs welfare, and medical abortion. Company, chair, the Coca-Cola Foundation; Sandra Morgan, director, CSWS.

Human Security Continued from page 1

Negotiating Gender and National Identities in Conflict; and Cindi Katz, City University of New CSWS Faculty and Staff York, whose research focuses on what she calls the “global retreat from social reproduction.” Sandra Morgen, director Dalia Hashad, who has a law degree from New York University, will be talking about the Judith Musick, associate director Jan Emerson, research associate ACLU Campaign against Racial Profiling, specifically her work on issues confronting Arab, Shirley Marc, office coordinator Muslim, and South-Asian Americans following September 11. Other speakers will focus on Peggy McConnell, accountant immigrant issues, political violence, and civil liberties. These include Rhonda Ramiro of the Diana Taylor, office specialist Stephanie Wood, senior research Bay Area Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines, Ramon Ramirez of PCUN (Pineros associate y Campesinos Unidos del Noroeste), and Patricia Cortez, who works with AMIGOS de los Initiative Directors Sobrevivientes in Eugene. The final panel brings together five Eugene community advocates Feminist Humanities Project whose work spans issues ranging from peace, civil liberties, and immigrant rights to the effects Judith Musick Research Program of economic restructuring on working people and issues affecting indigenous communities on Women’s Health in Oregon. Guadalupe Quinn, Carol Van Houten, Hope Marston, Deanna Dart, and Harriet Marie Harvey Women in the Northwest Merrick will participate in a dialog among themselves and with conference participants about Sandra Morgen work they are doing to promote human security in our community. From the Center is published two The conference is funded by the Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics; the College times a year by the Center for the of Arts and Sciences; the Departments of Anthropology, Geography, History, Sociology, and Study of Women in Society at the . It is edited Political Science; and the Ethnic Studies, International Studies, Latin American Studies, and by Jan Emerson with assistance Women’s and Gender Studies Programs. This broad base of institutional support speaks both to from Shirley Marc, CSWS, and the breadth of issues to be addressed at the conference and the theoretical and political impor- designed and copy-edited by Lori Howard, Office of University tance of interrogating issues about security. Publications. For more information: (541) 346-5015 http://csws.uoregon.edu 3 CSWS Spring Calendar u p c o m i n g For more information or to check exact times and locations of calendar events, call CSWS at (541) 346-5015 or see the CSWS website at http://csws.uoregon.edu Wednesdays at Noon Noon–1:00 p.m., Jane Grant Room, 330 Hendricks Hall, University of Oregon April 21: “Nepal’s Everyday Ecologists: Women Stewards of the Himalayas,” Elizabeth Larson, graduate student, international studies. May 5: “Conavigua: Women Organizing Against Political Violence in Guatemala,” Sandra Ezqeurra, graduate student, sociology.

Road Scholars Road Scholars Barbara Altmann, Lizzie Reis, Judith Musick, Jan Emerson, Stephanie Wood, Sandra Morgen, and Joan Acker recently presented in Bend (Deschutes Public Library), Albany (Linn-Benton Community College), Eugene (Learning in Retirement, OASIS), and Portland (Portland Home and Garden Show). Upcoming Road Scholar events include: May 3, 2:30 p.m.: Into Our Own Hands: The Women’s Health Movement in the , Teaching Willamette Oaks Retirement Living, Sandra Morgen, director, CSWS, and professor, anthropology and Tea May 7, 7:30 p.m.: Frida Kahlo: Mexican Painter—World Icon, Eugene Public Library, Jane Grant Conference Stephanie Wood, senior research associate, CSWS Room, 330 Hendricks Hall, Five new presentations have been added to the Road Scholars catalog: Fighting and Sailing University of Oregon Women in Folksongs and History by Dianne Dugaw, English; The Taxing State of Economic Thursday, April 15 Insecurity by Sandra Morgen, anthropology and CSWS; The Gendered Garden: Women in the 4:00–5:30 p.m. History of Gardens by Judith Musick, CSWS, Wired Humanities Project; and Praise and Blame Striking Against the Em- pire: An Analysis of the of Women: The Middle Ages and Now by Gina Psaki, Romance languages. “True” Indigenous Roots of If you know of an organization that would like to receive a Road Scholars catalog, e-mail or Chicana and Chicanos call Jan Emerson, [email protected] or (541) 346-2263. Zelda Haro, graduate stu- dent, International Studies Program Borders of Human Security Conference Schedule Thursday, May 13 MAY 20–21, 2004 · 175 KNIGHT LAW CENTER · UNIVERSITY OF OREGON 4:00–5:30 p.m. The Death of a Female Thursday, May 20 este—Northwest Treeplanters and Farmworkers Moneylender: A Medieval 7:30 p.m.: Opening Address United); Lise Nelson, Department of Geography, Murder Mystery Noeleen Heyzer, executive director, UNIFEM University of Oregon and Lynn Stephen, Depart- Judith Baskin, professor, (United Nations Development Fund for Women) ment of Anthropology, University of Oregon Judaic Studies 2:00–4:00 p.m.: Economic Security and Friday, May 21 Sponsored by the Feminist 8:30 a.m.: Opening Session—Conference Insecurities Humanities Project of CSWS Overview and Welcome Chair: Ellen Scott, Department of Sociol- and the Wired Humanities 9:00–10:45 a.m.: Terror at Home: Race, ogy, University of Oregon; Dorothy Roberts, Project. For information Ethnicity, Gender, and Violence Northwestern School of Law; Cindi Katz, City contact Jan Emerson at (541) Chair: Keith Aoki, School of Law, University University of New York, Graduate Center; Joan 346-2263 or jemerson@ of Oregon; Dahlia Hashad, ACLU Project on Acker, Department of Sociology, University of oregon.uoregon.edu. Racial Profiling; Patricia Cortez, Amigos de Oregon; and Sandra Morgen, Department of los Sobrevivientes (Friends of the Survivors) Anthropology, University of Oregon Perfect Unions Cynthia Cockburn, City University, London 4:15–6:00 p.m.: Promoting Human Security April 22 and Margaret Knox, Department of Geogra- at Home 4:00–6:00 p.m. phy, University of Oregon Chair: Sandra Morgen, Department of Anthro- Location to be announced 11:00 a.m.–12:45 p.m.: Globalization, pology, University of Oregon; Guadalupe Quinn, Perfect Unions? The Poli- Immigration, and Work CAUSA; Carol Van Houten, Community Alli- tics and Law of Same-Sex Chair: Susan Hardwick, Department of Geog- ance of Lane County; Hope Marston, Eugene- Marriage featuring Scott raphy, University of Oregon; Rhonda Ramiro, Springfield Solidarity Network; Deana Dartt, De- Barclay, political science, Committee for Human Rights in the Philip- partment of Anthropology, University of Oregon; SUNY, Albany; Priscilla pines in the Bay Area; Ramon Ramirez, PCUN and Harriet Merrick, Basic Rights Oregon Yamin, political science, (Pineros y Campesinos Unidos del Noro- 6:00–7:00 p.m.: Reception New School for Social Research; Dom Vetri, law, UO; and Julie Novkov, political science, UO. 4

rig profiles concepts are gendered. Professor Barnes’s The Healing Arts talk has inspired plans for a course that By Susan Anderson and Dorothee Ostmeier would involve students in mapping Eugene’s orothee Ostmeier arranged a meeting diverse alternative healing landscapes. In Dwith Louise Bishop and Susan Ander- January 2004, Cordy Anderson spoke on son in 2002 to start a new research interest “Therapeutic Touch” and gave a demonstra- group (RIG), the Healing Arts, which has tion. Two other lectures are in the works since been awarded a two-year Oregon Hu- for this year. See http://www.uoregon.edu/ manities Center RIG grant and been accepted ~gerscan/healing_arts/index.html. Member Comments as a CSWS RIG. The focus is “healing as total art” and includes ideas about gender and Louise Bishop: This RIG’s focus on ideas healing, literary and artistic approaches to about healing, cross-culturally and cross- healing, philosophies of the body, modern historically, with an emphasis on modern alternative medicines as cross-cultural fer- practice, complements my research into tilization, and Eugene’s alternative-healing fourteenth- and fifteenth-century medical community. The twelve members include texts and their connection to Middle English faculty from the Department of Germanic poetry. The RIG has given me good modern Languages and Literatures, the Medieval resources through which to think about me- 2003–4 RIG dieval healing. For instance, modern alterna- Coordinators Studies Program, the Comparative Literature Program, the Women’s and Gender Studies tive medicine’s similarities to and differences Feminist Philosophy from medieval practice appear in the herbal Bonnie Mann, Program, the Department of Philosophy, and [email protected] the Clark Honors College. tradition. I want to think critically about Dana Berthold, The wide-ranging methods of alternative healing practices, especially the way litera- [email protected] ture focuses on healing and the way reading Lisa Yount, medicines are based on different philoso- [email protected] phies about the relations between nature, the can be conceived, itself, as a way to heal. The Gender in Historical and human body, and the spirit. By infiltrating RIG members’ feedback helps me hone my Transnational China our society these methods transgress nation- thinking. Maram Epstein, Madronna Holden: I decided to join the [email protected] al, geographic, and historical boundaries and RIG after experiencing its exceptional com- Healing Arts have become a crucial part of our postmod- Dorothee Ostmeier, ern culture. People searching for alterna- mitment to the local community in terms of [email protected] tives to traditional Western medicine have both teaching and learning. I have certainly Susan Anderson, benefited from the interdisciplinary sharing [email protected] accepted these different systems of thought that allows us to work from one another’s Jewish Feminist Theory and have put pressure on policymakers to Judith Baskin, integrate alternative methods into public questions and insights. I have found consid- [email protected] healthcare and the training of physicians. erable support here for my interests in the Native American Communities Chinese medicine recently entered academic intersection between social and individual Margaret Knox, healing, treatment methods that honor the [email protected] discourse when the first professorship for Reclaiming the Past traditional Chinese medicine was estab- personal integrity of the client, and environ- Christina Calhoon, lished in Germany at the famed Charité in mental health concerns. [email protected] Berlin. American insurance companies are Hildegard Regele: The Healing Arts RIG Social Sciences Feminist provides a forum to discuss great passions of Network considering covering homeopathic therapies. mine: literature, philosophy, and medicine. Khaya Clark, kolc7894@ These developments indicate how public uoregon.edu policy is shaped by the desires of the public I earned my degree of health practitioner in Violence, Gender and Society to break with the mathematically and ratio- Germany and a B.S. in biology at Montana Deborah Olson, State University, Billings, before entering the [email protected] nally organized Western medicine and to graduate program in German literature at the Wired integrate different diagnostic and therapeutic Judith Musick, approaches into their lives. UO. I am currently a Ph.D. candidate working [email protected] Linda Barnes, professor of pediatrics on my dissertation, “Artificial Illnesses and Women, Work, and at Boston and Harvard Universities and Healing Arts: Samuel Hahnemann’s Homoe- Economic Restructuring opathy, Sigmund Freud’s Talking Cures, and Joan Acker, director of the Spirituality and Child Health [email protected] Initiative, held the first guest lecture in May Bertolt Brecht’s Theater as Expressions of 2003. She explained that effective medical Homoeopathic Catharsis.” I am excited to be practitioners must understand how differ- part of an academically based interest group ent cultures transmit, alter, and question that reaches out to the community and fosters concepts of health and illness and how these dialog on ever-more important issues. 5 to British Columbia to analyze potential trans- k u d o s Kudos! national connections that may extend across the Joan Acker, sociology emerita, was a keynote U.S.-Canada border. She published articles in the speaker at the Embodied Workers and Global- Journal of Historical Geography and the Journal ization Conference at Syracuse University in of Cultural Geography and is president of the February 2004. National Council for Geographic Education. With professor emeritus Carleton Carroll Leslie Harris, law, in 2003 Project Link-Up of Oregon State University, Barbara Altmann, (Wayne Morse Center for Law and Politics) pub- Romance languages, edited The Court Recon- lished A Resource Guide for Parents Incarcer- venes: Selected Papers from the Ninth Triennial ated in Oregon, for which she also wrote three Congress of the International Courtly Literature chapters on child custody and support and the Society. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer, 2003. courts. She co-convened (with Merle Weiner) the Judith Baskin, Knight Professor of Humanities North American Regional Conference of the In- and director, Judaic studies, was elected presi- ternational Society of Family Law and presented dent of the 15,000-member Association for Jew- “Parental Responsibility Laws: Who Enacts ish Studies. She is the third woman to head the Them? Who Enforces Them? Do They Make Any organization and only the second president from Difference?” an institution outside the Northeastern states. Karen Heinicke-Motsch and Susan Sygall of Richard Bear, UO Libraries, won a grant Mobility International USA, edited Building an from the Institute of Museum and Library Inclusive Development Community: A Manual Services to digitize the Oregonian Index: http: on Including People with Disabilities in Interna- //libweb.uoregon.edu/govdocs/indexing/ tional Development Programs. MIUSA: 2003. news.html and published Sir Philip Sidney’s The Cheris Kramerae, sociology emerita, pub- Countesse of Pembroke’s Arcadia (1590) at Rena- lished “Redesigning Distance Education to Deal scence Editions, http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/ with Equity Problems,” in Michael Moore, with Do You Have ~rbear/>darkwing.uoregon.edu/~rbear/ Von Pittman, Terry Anderson, and Cheris Krama- Lowell Bowditch, Classics, published “Prop- rae. From Chautauqua to the Virtual University: A Good News to ertius 2.10 and the Eros of Empire.” Being There Century of Distance Education. Information Series Together: Essays in Honor of Michael C. J. Put- 393. Columbus: Center on Education and Training Share? nam on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday. for Employment, Ohio State University, 2003. Send notices about books Ed. H. Haskell and P. Thibodeau, Afton Histori- David Leiwei Li, English, published Glo- and articles published, balization and the Humanities (Hong Kong UP, cal Society, 2003, and presented a paper at the awards won, presenta- American Philological Association meeting in 2003), which includes his introduction and an San Francisco. essay; “The State and Subject of Asian Ameri- tions made, and honors Gaylene Carpenter, arts and administration, can Criticism: Psychoanalysis, Transnational bestowed to Jan Emerson. Discourse, and Democratic Ideals.” American published “The Stability of Leisure Perceptions Call (541) 346-2263 or Among Mid-Life Adults Over Time,” in An- Literary History 15.3 (Fall 2003); and “Yi Yi: nals of Leisure Research and “Bend Winterfest Reflections on Reflexive Modernity in Taiwan.” e-mail jemerson@oregon. in Central Oregon: Growing as Event Tourism Chinese Films in Focus: 25 New Takes, ed. Chris uoregon.edu. Put kudos! Berry. British Film Institute, 2003. Grows,” in Winter Cities 22:4. in the subject line. In a recent presentation in Seattle, Jennifer Karen McPherson, Romance languages, is Freyd, psychology, discussed how media-fueled the newly elected vice president of the Conseil bias distorts the validity of recovered memories. International d’Études Francophones. See her website at http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/ Dorothee Ostmeier, Germanic languages ~jjf/aaas04/freydpr/index.html. and literatures, presented “Else Lasker-Schüler Bryna Goodman, history, published “Unvir- über Peter Hille,” for the Peter Hille Society, tuous Exchanges: Women and the Corruptions Nieheim, Erwitzen, Paderborn, Germany, and of the Stock Market in Early Republican China.” “Kinder lernen Deutsch: Outreach Program an Women and Gender in Republican China, Ed. der UO.” OATG, 2003; and published “Hiltrud Mechtild Leutner and Nicola Spakawski. LIT: Häntzschel. Brechts Frauen.” Brecht Yearbook Free U of Berlin, 2004. She edited Networks 28 (2003). of News: Power, Language, and Transnational Janice Rutherford, allied arts and adminis- Dimensions of the Chinese Press, 1850–1949 tration, presented “The Perils of Preservation: (2004), for which she wrote an article as well as Processing History in the South University Dis- the preface. trict” in the Architecture and Allied Arts faculty Evlyn Gould published “Models of Good lecture series. She is examining the process by Practice: Romance Languages at the University of which proponents nominated the district to the Oregon.” ADFL Bulletin (Winter 2004). She also National Register of Historic Places. participated on a panel, “The Work of Women Carol Silverman, anthropology, published Chairs,” at the MLA convention in San Diego “The Gender of the Profession: Music, Dance, and was invited to present “Bohemia Interna- and Reputation among Balkan Muslim Rom tional!” at Colorado College in March. (Gypsy) Women.” Gender and Music: Perspec- Leslie D. Hall, sociology and Office of Aca- tives from the Mediterranean, ed. Tullia Magrini. demic Advising, presented “Mutual Respect University of Chicago: 2003. in Family Work: A Theological Approach” in Beata Stawarska, philosophy, published Vancouver, B.C. The poster was presented at the “From the Body Proper to Flesh: Merleau-Ponty annual National Council on Family Relations on Intersubjectivity.” Feminist Interpretations conference, November 2003. of Merleau-Ponty. Penn State University. Ed. Susan Hardwick, geography, received a Dorothea Olkowski and Gail Weiss. 2004. Fall grant from the Canadian Embassy to extend her 2003 she taught “London Avant-Garde from National Science Foundation-funded project on 1914–39”in London for NCSA and delivered Russian, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese refugees plenary addresses at the Asociación Española de and asylum-seekers in Oregon and Washington Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos and at a confer- ence on literature and environment in Germany. 6 creativec r e a center t i v e Joy Belsky Lecture Unites Visionary Theorists and Activists debacle. Our human institutions—health care, agriculture, and energy—are in chaos and near collapse, and all of them interact with the envi- ronment in substantial and destructive ways. Raffensperger cited writer and activist Barry Lopez to argue that the U.S. has a fourth, unacknowledged and unregulated, branch of government—corporations. Based in competi- tion, our current system measures success on the basis of economic efficiency and encourages the privatization of goods and services. Are the government’s primary duties to enforce national interests, ensure national security, and protect property rights or is government’s primary duty Joy Belsky’s husband Robert Amundson, Dorothy to serve as the trustee of the commonwealth, to Amundson, Mary O’Brien, Martha Dina Arguello, protect the commons for this and future genera- Sandra Morgen, and Carolyn Raffensperger. tions, she asked. n February 10, an enthusiastic audience Many Americans still have faith in politics. Ofilled the Alumni Lounge in Gerlinger Hall Rather than wait for politicians who too often for the inaugural Joy Belsky Lecture—an annual hand us smallish policies, says Raffensperger, event founded to honor the legacy of Portland we can hand the politicians our grand vision, ecologist Joy Belsky, who died of breast cancer crafting our own political agenda based on the in December 2001. Featured at the podium were public trust doctrine, which asserts the value of the executive director of the Science and Envi- the common wealth rather than the protection ronmental Health Network (SEHN) and environ- of private property. Forty-eight states have some O n J o y Belsky mental theorist and lawyer Carolyn Raffensperg- version of the public trust doctrine either in “Joy Belsky was an honest, er, Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), common law or state Constitutions. dogged, courageous public- Los Angeles, community activist Martha Dina The precautionary principle sets us free to interest scientist who devoted Arguello, and Eugene social advocate and writer speak about values, to use our hearts as well her years in Oregon to the Mary O’Brien. The common topic was “The Pub- as our heads, to recognize with author James public lands, grasslands, lic Trust and the Precautionary Principle.” Hillman that even our eyes, ears, and nose—our streams, wildlife, and women Citing increases in cancer, autism, and other aesthetic responses—are political instruments we have been blessed with in that can warn us about changes in our environ- this state.” neurodevelopmental disorders and the rise in ment and propel us to act. Can we find new —Mary O’Brien infectious diseases associated with environmen- tal changes—not to mention the state of marine ways to insist that our governments fully take on fisheries, forests, arctic mammals, climate, or their role as trustee of the commonwealth, asks fresh water rivers—Raffensperger called our Raffensperger? Where do we start? governments to task for failing to protect the commonwealth for this and future generations. The 1998 Wingspread Statement on the Precautionary Principle states: “When an activ- ity raises threats of harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relation- ships are not fully established scientifically.” All statements of the precautionary principle con- tain a version of this formula: When the health of humans and the environment is at stake, it is not necessary to wait for scientific certainty to take protective action. Precaution is not a last resort. Compare the slowly publicized link be- tween tobacco and cancer or the recent mad cow Martha Dina Arguello and Carolyn Raffensperger 7 Joy Belsky Lecture Unites Visionary Theorists and Activists c e n t e r 125 chemicals in the air. The kits are now in the hands of communities. Arguello will soon demonstrate the drift catcher to the Senate Select Committee on Environmental Justice, offering hope for progress with pesticide regulation. There has also been progress in preventing asthma attacks in children. Fourteen coalitions united to ask PSR for help to develop public poli- cies to reduce asthma triggers, beginning with the port of Los Angeles. Arguello is impressed that so many different sectors—parents, children, doctors, nurses, clean air activists, public health workers, and asthma activists—united to prevent further harm. The result has been a change in Martha Dina Arguello truck idling rules, limiting diesel emissions. Many California environmental justice advo- According to Martha Dina Arguello, some cates are optimistic. The California EPA is inter- local California communities are answering the ested in how implementing the precautionary challenge. Inspired by the precautionary prin- principle can help ensure public health. Allies ciple, they are working to change local politics. among public agencies like the precautionary As a health educator, Martha Dina Arguello had principle because it gives them a way around an epiphany when she realized that although risk assessment and around regulatory limits early detection can prevent women from dying in their day-to-day jobs, making it a tool that of breast cancer, it doesn’t prevent breast cancer, allows them to make a difference. In the mean- which science is increasingly linking with envi- time, environmentalists are seeking sympathetic Carolyn Raffensperger, Lynne ronmental toxins. So she joined Physicians for legislators and working to increase screening Fessenden, and an audience member. Social Responsibility to help organize within the for lead levels in children, to ban the use of the environmental community. To her, the beauty of most toxic pesticides in schools, and to regulate the precautionary principle lies not only in its highly toxic dry-cleaning chemicals without On the theoretical aspect, but also in how it works when hurting small business owners. Precautionary applied to public policy. Similar activities are happening in Oregon, Principle The fact that public health workers are torn said local activist Mary O’Brien. The Oregon “For the benefit of pres- between their duties to the organizations they Toxics Alliance has launched Vinyl Out of Or- ent and future generations, work for and the communities they serve often egon (VOO) to eliminate the use of highly toxic the State and its political results in failing the public trust, says Arguello. vinyl (PBC) in new institutional construction subdivisions shall conserve For example, despite an alarming, repeated, and throughout Oregon. The Safe Food Campaign, and protect Hawaii’s natural concentrated occurrence of childhood lymphona cosponsored by Oregon PSR, is working to end beauty and all natural re- in one California neighborhood, the Health production and cultivation of genetically engi- sources, including land, water, Department refused to investigate. As it turned neered dairy products and crops. air, minerals and energy sources, and shall promote out, the children were living in houses built on a Madd Elk unites hunters, animal rights activ- the development and utiliza- former military toxic site. Since either the insur- ists, and conservationists against the domestica- tion of these resources in a ance company or the state is ultimately responsi- tion of native Oregon elk and deer species to manner consistent with their ble for health care, cleanup, and relocation costs, prevent chronic wasting disease from entering conservation and in further- it would have been in their own best interest to Oregon’s wild deer and elk populations and ance of the self-sufficiency act earlier. Oregon’s food supply. Similar to Mad Cow Dis- of the State. All public natural But there are also victories. When the Cali- ease in cattle, chronic wasting disease spreads resources are held in trust by fornia South Coast Air Quality Management far more rapidly than Mad Cow Disease and can the State for the benefit of District passed an environmental work plan to cause the always-fatal Creutzfeldt-Jacob Disease the people.” develop more precautionary policies, one result in humans. —Hawaii Constitution. Article XI.1 was a series of workshops to develop tools to And, on an optimistic note, Oregon environ- monitor air quality. The district gave a scientist mentalists are meeting with Eugene city officials from the Pesticide Action Network the materials to discuss how the precautionary principle needed to design drift kits capable of analyzing might be implemented in local ordinances. 8 n e w s Chinchilla considered the multiple relation- Updates ships between globalization and immigration, arguing that the actions and experiences of FEMINIST HUMANITIES PROJECT immigrants do not simply result from but For its Digital Teaching Units for Gender help to shape globalizing processes. The in History, FHP was recently named a final- series ended with Margo Okazawa-Rey of the ist in the international Women’s Network- Center for Women’s Leadership at Mills Col- ing Support Program Awards of the As- lege and Dianne Lobes of Women’s Action for sociation for Progressive Communications: New Directions (WAND) and Wayne Morse http://www.genderawards.net/finalists/ Historical Park Corporation Board raising nlfinalists.shtml. The awards “aim to honor provocative questions about militarization and bring international recognition to in- and resistance to militarization today. novative and effective projects by women to use information and communication RESEARCH PROGRAM ON technologies for the promotion of gender WOMEN’S HEALTH equality and/or women’s empowerment.” Activities in the Research Program on FHP has applied for a National Endowment Women’s Health over the past few months have largely revolved around data analysis CSWS 2003–4 for the Humanities grant to build a distance research environment for our Mapas project and dissemination of our ongoing research Executive Committee (digitizing and building interactive research studies. Analysis and manuscript preparation Sandra Morgen, CSWS environments on line for pictorial Mexican will be our focus in the coming months. Judith Musick, CSWS manuscripts housed in the UO Museum Marie Harvey and Meredith Branch have Judith Raiskin, women’s and of Natural History and a few other, simi- also been involved in an NIH-funded study gender studies lar manuscripts). We are designing a grant evaluating the effectiveness of reducing unin- Barbara Altmann, Romance project around a medieval manuscript in the tended pregnancies by administering contra- languages UO Burgess Collection, and a major grant to ceptives in the home. Although the project Linda Fuller, sociology hold a 2005 NEH Summer Institute for High is being implemented in Portland, Oregon, Shelley Winship, development, School Teachers to help social studies and Marie (a coprincipal investigator) and Mer- architecture and allied arts Spanish-language teachers integrate current, edith assisted with the development of the Ellen Scott, sociology digital Mesoamerican heritage materials questionnaire and data collection protocols, Sandra Ezquerra, sociology and interpretations into digital classroom and consult regularly with the Portland team. Kathleen Karlyn, English presentations. Marie has several conferences on her Laura Fair, history spring itinerary. The Advancing New Stan- WOMEN IN THE dards in Reproductive Health Program at NORTHWEST the University of California, San Francisco, During winter invited Marie to participate in the “Scientific term, in addition to Standards in Abortion and Mental Health continuing to analyze Research” workgroup. Marie will also pres- data from the Welfare Norma Chincilla (left) ent findings from the diaphragm study at the Research Project, we speaks with graduate Microbicides 2004 Conference in London. students. sponsored a lively speaker series: Producing Security and WIRED HUMANITIES PROJECT Insecurity: Global and Local Issues. The four WIDENS OUTREACH events focused on processes that promote The WHP is enjoying considerable support or undermine human security in an age of this year from the Office of the Vice President growing economic inequality, poverty, and for Research, which has made our initiative militarization. The series began with a lec- one of the top three fund-raising priorities ture by Catherine Kingfisher, professor of an- on campus. We also have three graduate thropology at University of Lethbridge, who teaching fellows, with Kevin Van Driesche spoke about welfare restructuring and global- continuing and Vicki Silvers and William ization. The following week Michael Leach- Henderson joining the team in September. man, a policy analyst at the Oregon Center We are expanding our humanities computing for Public Policy, and Jessica Chaney, from presence on campus, helping faculty mem- FOOD for Lane County, brought these issues bers with technological applications for both home by exploring food insecurity, poverty, their research projects and pedagogical needs. and tax policy in Oregon. Sociologist Norma Continued on next page 9 First Adoption History Site Launched n e w s SWS Road Scholar Hundreds of images and primary documents Cand affiliate Ellen illustrate such topics as the orphan trains, Herman, history, has infertility, sealed records, eugenics, baby farm- created the first website ing, telling, and transracial, international, and on the history of child special-needs adoptions. Critics have praised adoption in the United the site as “a brilliant technical and scholarly States. Supported by the Orphan train, cour- accomplishment” (E. Wayne Carp, author of tesy of the Children’s National Science Founda- Aid Society. Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in tion and the Center for History and New Media the History of Adoption) that is “beautifully and designed by the Wired Humanities Project, designed and thoughtfully conceived, [offering] the Adoption History Project is a digital public rich possibilities for classroom use.” (Barbara history resource profiling people, organiza- Melosh, author of Strangers and Kin: The tions, topics, and studies that shaped modern American Way of Adoption.) Visit the site at American adoption in theory and practice. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption.

CSWS You’re Invited to Celebrate Farewell to a Friend Publications n Monday, Oc- with CSWS June 2! Work, Welfare and Poli- n Wednesday, June 2, 2004, CSWS Otober 20, 2003, tics, edited by Frances Fox Owill hold a thirtieth-anniversary CSWS lost a longtime Piven, Joan Acker, Mar- event to celebrate our collective research friend and devoted garet Hallock, and Sandra endeavors over the past three decades. A staff member when Morgen, is available from the great deal of fascinating work on women, Agnes Curland died University of Oregon Press. gender, race, ethnicity, class, and culture after a long illness. You can order it by calling (866) 672-8574 or online at has been published and broadly dissemi- Agnes was born in www.uopress.com. nated with the support and encourage- Szigetvar, Hungary, in 1927. When she ment of the center. At this event, we will emigrated to the United States with Written by UO professor be displaying much of the work—books, her family in 1938, she brought with emerita Joan Acker, CSWS articles, chapters, and films—that the her an abiding appreciation of other Director Sandra Morgen, and Lisa Gonzales, CSWS, with center has influenced or made possible. cultures and memories of relatives left Jill Weigt, Kate Berry, and Later, we will be archiving the works for behind. These shaped her life. Agnes Terri Heath, Welfare Restruc- did what she could for peace and future reference. This will be a great end- turing, Work & Poverty: Policy of-the-academic-year party complete with securing human rights. She regularly Implications from Oregon, entertainment. So please hold the date participated in demonstrations against is available from CSWS for and watch for further details—we really war, including the war in Iraq. Her life $5. Call (541) 346-5015. want you to join us! was always characterized by a strong It is also online at http: passion for women’s rights, which led //wnw.uoregon.edu her to devote her energies to CSWS and Wired Continued from previous page Understanding Medical the Women’s Studies Program for many Abortion: Policy, Politics, and WHP expanded the Digital Teaching Unit years, faithfully doing our books and Women’s Health by S. Marie collection, unveiling four new web sites at being a constant source of good cheer Harvey, Christy A. Sherman, the FHP- and WHP-sponsored Teaching and and support for our mission. Agnes Sheryl Thorburn Bird, and Tea series. Besides partnering with research traveled extensively with her hus- Jocelyn Warren is avail- faculty members in the Feminist Humanities band, David, and they lived in Madrid, able from the Center for the Project, we are reaching out to the humani- Barcelona, and Seville, Spain, and in Study of Women in Society. To order or download in pdf ties faculty, to campus museum staff, Special Mexico. Agnes loved reading and art format see the website: http: Collections staff, and to the Lane Country and had a great appreciation for natural //csws.uoregon.edu/ Historical Museum staff. Also, Judith Musick beauty. Several years ago, Agnes and and Stephanie Wood will give a paper at the David moved from Eugene to Santa Association for Literary and Linguistic Com- Barbara to be with their children and puting and the Association for Computers grandchildren. We will miss Agnes and the Humanities meeting in Gothenburg, very much. Sweden, in June. 10 a w a r d s Jane Grant Dissertation Fellowship Winner Barbara Sutton Pursuing Research in Argentina Barbara Sutton, sociology, cofounder of the Social Sciences Feminist Network RIG, and coordi- nator of “Feminism Unbound: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Symposium”—an event conceived and organized by the RIG and sponsored by CSWS—shares news about her grant project: My project, “Body Politics and Women’s Consciousness in Argentina,” overviews and raises questions about taken-for-granted gender norms, ideologies, and relations in Argentina through the lens of women’s bodily experiences, paying attention to the social, political, and economic dimensions of how women live, perceive, and feel about their bodies. I look at the social control, manipulation, and regulation of women’s bodies as well as women’s collective and individual resistance to these gendered patterns. Through a combination of in-depth interviews, ethnographic observations, focus groups, and media analysis my project explores the following questions: What are the continuities and contradictions between women’s bodily experiences and hegemonic constructions of the female body? How do women incorporate the influence of dominant social institutions and cultural norms in Argentina into the way they perceive and treat their bodies? How do women negotiate, respond to, and resist social regulations of and ideologies about their bodies? How do they create alternative visions, practices, and models of female embodiment? What can we learn about the interplay of local and global forces in Argentina when we start from women’s experiences of their bodies? In order to answer these questions, I investigated, in particular, how social practices and ideologies related to women’s work, reproduction, sexuality, and femininity intersect in the way Argentine women experience their bodies. The narratives of the women who participated in the study Graduate Student yield insights about political issues like abortion, violence against women, norms of femininity, Awarded MacArthur the bodily scars of neo-liberal economics, and the bodily dimensions of political resistance. I hope this project will generate knowledge with liberatory potential for women by raising Foundation Grant awareness and providing information that can be used to further women’s rights, especially Former CSWS Jane in relation to political struggles that are particularly ‘hot’ now, such as women’s sexual and Grant award winner Charli Carpenter, political science reproductive rights and economic policies that affect women’s lives in the context of globalization. graduate student, has been The most immediate repercussions of my research activities are related to the women who awarded a John D. and participated in the project. Some of these women now think about specific issues concerning Catherine T. MacArthur their rights as women for the first time, while for others the research encounter was an Foundation Research opportunity to expand or revise their ideas on these issues. During the course of my project, and Writing Grant. The I also organized activities with members of the women’s movement in Argentina and shared $73,000 grant will enable insights derived from my research with individual activists and with other women during her to research and write reflection groups. I plan to translate and make available relevant parts of my dissertation to a book, Children of the women in Argentina through oral presentations, informal conversations, workshops, websites, Enemy? Forced Pregnancy, Humanitarian Assistance, academic articles, and contributions to literature produced by social movement organizations. and Children’s Rights in the In the future, I would like to become a university professor and researcher and lead projects Balkans, on the humanitarian that will broaden the understanding of women’s lives from an international standpoint. I’d like response to children born to be involved in collaborative projects with scholars and activists from different areas of the of genocidal rape in the world, particularly from across the Americas. Balkans. This project will Receiving the Jane Grant Dissertation Fellowship was key to my project: The grant covered be separate from and will necessary research and living expenses, allowing me to concentrate on my dissertation analysis come after completion of her and writing. I want to continue to participate in the center’s activities as much as possible. dissertation. I would definitely recommend that students should get involved in CSWS—to attend conferences, brown bags, and lectures, join or start a RIG, and apply for CSWS grants. CSWS Grant Deadlines Being originally from Argentina, where students and academics face incredible obstacles to There will be a single grant accomplish their work, I am particularly aware that it is a huge privilege to have access to the application deadline for many kinds of resources that CSWS has to offer. The vibrant, knowledgeable, politically active, 2005. For details, check and committed scholarly community that CSWS has nurtured promises to enrich in multiple the CSWS website at http: //csws.uoregon.edu fall term ways the understanding and networks of students doing gender research. and the fall newsletter. The Photo: Barbara Sutton (far left) with women of the Network of Women in Solidarity (Red de Mujeres solidar- 2004 grant recipients will ias) at their meeting quarters in Buenos Aires, Argentina. also be announced in the fall newsletter. 11 Members Support Programs c s w s

CSWS thanks all 116 of its members for their support! Charter members, renewals, and new members have given CSWS $12,555 since we began our membership program in 2002. Their generosity and commitment has enabled us to expand our Road Scholars community lecture program and to add some graduate student research awards. Our membership includes com- munity members (sixty-two), UO faculty and staff (forty-three), colleagues from other universi- ties (six), and one UO College—the Robert D. Clark Honors College. CSWS members are:

Hanne Allou* Margaret Hallock* Joan Pierson* Barbara Altmann* Eric Hanneman Barbara Corrado Pope Florence Alvergue* Ellie Hansen-Meservey* Annie Popkin* Anonymous Susan W. Hardwick* Gina Psaki Trudie L. Atkinson* J. Richard Heinzkill* Elizabeth Reis and Mrs. Billie Austin* Ellen Herman* Matthew Dennis* Ruth Bascom* Nathalie Claire Hester* Carolyn Rexius* Thomas A. and Robin Irish* Marian Richards If you have member news, Mary Beaumont* Esther Jacobson-Tepfer Betty Rinck* e-mail or call Jan: jemerson@ Aletta Biersack* Robin Jaqua* Robert D. Clark oregon.uoregon.edu or (541) 346-2263. Louise Bishop* Barbara Jenkins* Honors College* Elizabeth Bohls Doris Johannessen Pamela Roby Ruby Brockett* Jim Johnson* Lawrence S. Rosenstone* Sara Brownmiller* Miriam and Ben Johnson* Jessica Rothenberg-Aalami* Linda Buelna Karen Jones-Baldwin* Joyce Salisbury* Tina L. Buikat* Margaret Kalil* Ellen Scott* Carl Bybee* Linda Kintz Katherine Shamey Gaylene Carpenter* Sarah Klinghammer* Marian Smith* Robert D. Clark Cynthia Kokis* Ursula Smith and Linda Peavy* David Curland* Cheris Kramarae* Bobbye Sorrels Bette Dedrick* Becky Lamoureux* Tova Stabin Diane L. Downey* Deborah Larson Arlene Stein* Anna L. Eblen* Margaret Lehrman* Janet Stone* Jan Emerson* Roberta Lessor and Anita Engiles* Al Johnson Lynn Stephen Maram Epstein* Jennifer Lewis Richard Sundt* Virginia Kemp Fish* Debbie Rose Libeskind* Kate Swift* Rebecca Force* Richard Littman* Jean Tate Caroline A. Forell* Wendy Maltz* Analisa Taylor Karen A. Foss* Linda H. Marple* Joyce Thomas* Sonja K. Foss* Rachel J. Martin* Edward and Ann Tryk* Lynn Frohnmayer* Alexander Mathas* Allene and Robert Tumelty* Peggy Fujita* Greg McLauchlan* Louise Wade* Linda Fuller* Karen McPherson* Merle Weiner* Joy Gall Beth Medler* Elizabeth Wheeler* Nancy E. Gallagher* Nancy Morgan Ronan* Marian Wilson* Sally Gearhart Madonna Moss Shelley Winship* Craig L. Gibons* Judith Musick* Stephanie Wood* Hannah Goldrich* Lise K. Nelson* Donna Woolley* Bryna Goodman* Margaret Paris Jeon-Suk Yeon* Leslie D. Hall Anita Pierce *Charter member 12 author’s note Midrashic Women: Formations of the Feminine in Rabbinic Literature Baskin, Judith R. (2002). Brandeis University Press-University Press of New England. Hardcover ISBN: I-58465-177-6; softcover ISBN: I-58465-178-4. n Midrashic Women, Judith R. Baskin, women. While Baskin shows that the rab- IKnight Professor of Humanities and direc- binic enterprise deeply valued the vital tor of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program contributions of wives and mothers to Jewish in Judaic Studies at the University of Oregon, survival, she also reveals deep-seated anxiet- examines constructions of women and their ies about women who did not conform to social roles in the aggadic midrash, the normative social expectations. nonlegal component of rabbinic literature. Recent feminist research has illuminated Baskin delineates the rabbinic conviction many aspects of the significance of gender that women were a separate and essentially in biblical and rabbinic texts, but there have lesser creation than men and demonstrates been few previous scholarly studies of how the ways the male authors of this influential aggadic literature portrays females and the literary tradition recognized and justified feminine. Baskin argues that a far more nu- women’s lower social status and the vari- anced and complex view of women’s actual ous disadvantages of women’s lives. Areas lives can be found in these narrative, anec- of discussion include the anatomy of female dotal, and homiletical representations than in alterity, midrashic explanations of the bibli- the rigorous proscriptions of legal discourse. cal creation narratives, aggadic images of Baskin also edited Jewish Women in Historical Perspec- the ideal wife, the dilemma of infertility, tive (second edition, 1998) and Women of the Word: Jewish Women and Jewish Writing (1994), both published by and rabbinic concerns about independent Wayne State University Press.

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