Women's Lives in Global Crisis

This course will examine the roles women are expected to embody during times of societal stress and conflict versus the actual roles they inhabit. This exploration will be enhanced by the course?s multimedia approach which allows us to see the shared commonalities and threads of resistance and affirmation that occur across political, cultural, and global spheres. Poetry, plays, novels, and memoir will be used alongside peer reviewed articles, historical accounts, and both documentary and narrative film. Global Crisis is defined, for this course, as violence - both traditional state waged war and communal conflict, migration - forced and ?voluntary?, environmental crisis, genocide, human rights violations, and political repression/upheaval/etc. Women often simultaneously embody roles of resistance to and in support of societal needs, forging new identities along the way. The study of what appears to be a contradiction leads to a more nuanced understanding of the intersection of power and the lived realities of women. This exploration affords an opportunity to expand ideas around what it means to be a woman living in times of crisis. Importantly, it demands we address what the larger societal implications and benefits are when we consider women?s voices in working to address and remedy crisis and conflict.