OAGD 1005 - Women's Resistance against Violence and Fight for Human Rights Protection

Women's resistance to various forms of violence has gained in scale and visibility. In Europe, Asia, Sub-Saharan and North Africa, Latin America, thousands of women resist to claim their rights. Those most visible are feminist activists, human rights defenders, academics, journalists, artists. But resistance is also organized in more "confidential" circles, such as among women workers or migrant women. Drawing on case studies, this workshop enables students to become familiar with the multiple facets of women's resistance to violence. With a particular attention to the intersections of gender, race, sexuality and economic status, students will develop a critical appreciation of what it means to resist to violence and what it does entail for those resisting. Students will gain analytical and practical tools to reflect on women's resistance to armed, political, social and economic violence. They will better understand the importance of adequately documenting and reporting on violence perpetrated against women, and will be equipped with the documentation tools, proper to those particularly sensitive issues.

“Recent scholarship has revealed contributions of women throughout the ages to the development of nonviolent methods for waging conflicts. The findings are unearthing a version of history in which women's involvement has been conducive to the use and expansion of civil resistance and nonviolent struggle. With women, until recently, customarily excluded from the jurisdictions in which societies decide to exercise political violence, because they were considered inadequate for military service, and as they were generally untrained in the use of weaponry, it should come as no surprise that women's choice of action strategies has been concentrated in waging conflicts through means other than armed confrontation. Women have tended by necessity and choice to explore the vast area of strategic nonviolent action, and did so centuries before the terminology was coined and its study and building of theory and practice had commenced.”

Tchérina JEROLON,Alexandra (sasha) KOULAEVA

Séminaire

English

Spring 2024-2025

- class discussions, individual, group, participation (10%), - oral presentation, study case prepared per student; and group and non mandatory written assignments (30 %), - written final assignment (60 %)

Workshop combining theory and practice, group and individual work, feedback will be provided accordingly