Washington Kurdish Institute
Najmaldin Karim Webinar Series
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Throughout history the Kurdish women played an essential role in the freedom movements across Kurdistan. The world recognizes the role of the Kurdish women by being “brave fighters” but they have given a much more vital part in all fields. The Kurdish women continue to face daily challenges by repressive regimes and societies inside and outside Kurdistan.
The panelists overviewed the important role of Kurdish women historically in their countries and in different contexts, the challenges they face today, and what the future holds for them in terms of equality. Our distinguished speakers will also discuss what Kurdish women experience living abroad in Europe and the United States.
Speakers:
Dr. Ozlem Goner– College of Staten Island, author of Turkish National Identity and Its Outsiders: Memories of State Violence in Dersim- Click for opening remarks
Ava Homa– Writer & Journalist, Author of Daughters of Smoke and Fire- Click for opening remarks
Aviva Stein– Catalystas Consulting, intersectional feminist perspective- Click for opening remarks
Giulia Anderson– Washington Kurdish Institute Associate- Click for opening remarks
Dr. Ozlem Goner is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the College of Staten Island, and Middle Eastern Studies at the Graduate Center at City University of New York. She earned degrees in Political Science and Sociology from Bogazici University, Turkey and her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Her work on memory and historicity; political economy and environment; and outsider identities and gender has been published in academic journals and edited volumes. Her book entitled, Turkish National Identity and its Outsiders: Memories of State Violence in Dersim, was published by Routledge in June 2017. She is a steering committee member of the Emergency Committee for Rojava.
Ava Homa is the critically-acclaimed author of DAUGHTERS OF SMOKE AND FIRE which weaves fifty years of modern Kurdish history. She is an activist and a journalist and holds an MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor in Canada. Her collection of short stories, Echoes from the Other Land, was longlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Prize, and she is the inaugural recipient of the PEN Canada-Humber College Writers-In-Exile Scholarship. In different settings across North America and Europe, Homa has delivered speeches on writing as resistance, human rights, gender equality, Kurdish affairs, media literacy, and other topics. She has a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from the University of Windsor in Canada, another in English Language and Literature from Tehran, Iran, and a diploma in editing from Toronto. You can connect with her at www.AvaHoma.com
Aviva Stein is the co-founder of Catalystas Consulting, an international development consultancy working through an intersectional feminist perspective. She is a Middle East and North Africa (MENA) development and political stability specialist, with a focus on peacebuilding, development, and female and youth empowerment. She has experience in program development, implementation, situational analysis, and strategic planning in multiple regions of the world, including a specialization in the Kurdistan region. Holding a Master’s in Conflict Studies and Human Rights from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, she has worked at organizations including the Representation Office of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria in the Benelux, Boston University’s African Presidential Center, and the Nobel Peace Prize winning Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Giulia Valeria Anderson is an associate at the Washington Kurdish Institute (WKI). She concluded with honors her Master’s degree at Ca’ Foscari University in Italy – defending her dissertation on US-Kurdish Relations between the 1960s and 1990s. She currently works for an Italian NGO associated with the UN Department of Global Communications and previously experienced working for UNESCO. Giulia has been collaborating with the WKI since August of 2019, and is extremely interested in Kurdish-related issues, such that she wishes to pursue a Ph.D in the field and continue advocating for Kurdish rights in Europe and in the US.