Reflective Memo

To: Dr. Berger

From: Meredith Roberts

November 26, 2008


Narrative Autobiography

I chose this topic because I have always wanted to learn more about it. It was very shocking to me that such inhumane treatment of people was going on in the world and I didn't know anything about or most of the people I knew either. I remember when I first found out maybe two years ago about it I did some shallow research and posted a little blog on myspace that told people to learn about what was going on in Darfur. The truth was, I really did not know about the issues facing women and reasons behind the conflict itself. This project has been truly eye opening and I have learned a lot more and I feel that now I would like to see what actions I could take to contribute to solutions. I always thought I couldn't impact the issue so why try, but after taking this class and learning how to position an issue affecting women within a specific theoretical frame I feel like I have a great understanding of the steps that need to be taken. I know to avoid essentialism, and positioning these women as the other. I know that it would be necessary to work with an organization that understands the need to empower Darfurian women to change their realities instead of a group who just sees them as needing saving from the evil men in their culture. I know now they have the power to do something themselves. I know that there is a Darfur Dallas group that meets monthly and I've decided to attend the meeting and see what they have organized to help. I think it will be interesting to see what kind of ideologies back their group and I hope they are sensitive to the errors in some of the discourse surrounding Darfur.

When I began this project I first read an autobiography by Halima Bashir which set in motion the learning process of what was happening in Darfur. I read her biography and I cried feeling so much more connected to her suffering than I ever did reading cold objective news stories with stark facts and numbers but no humanity involved. Mostly it illustrated the very full life that she had before invasion and annihilation of her village. I hate to say it, but I think there is this unbelievably ignorant idea of Africans from certain places being so uncultured, illiterate, and even unable to process things on a higher critical level. These ideas have been perpetuated by neo-colonialist ideologies and I think an idea exists that they did not have as much to lose because they already lived in poverty and less ideal situations prior to the conflict. After this I searched out more information that came directly from Darfurians. When I found Darfur Diaries other revelations were revealed. In the preface and epilogue the author discussed the inadequate portrayal of Arabs vs. Africans and how solutions will not be found without the understanding of the government's systemic oppression of both groups. This also opened possible ideas for solutions because it completely changed the frame of the conflict. After I began to think about the issue from this different ideological perspective I explored what rape and displacement means to the woman in Darfur in this particular context of war. I think the main thing I learned is that these women have suffered through hell on earth, and survived. They need to be acknowledged as brave and courageous and capable of continuing to better things for themselves and their children. The best that we can do from an international standpoint is to give them hope and education as we help them meet their basic needs for survival.

Frames and Methods

When embarking on this project I first thought of Mohanty and avoiding a homogenous idea of third world woman and Narayan's discussion of straying away from cultural essentialism. I did this by focusing on a specific tribe within the large scheme of oppression and those involved in the conflict in Darfur. I tried to point out what made them unique . In her article located in Decentering the Center Narayan talks about how Western culture separated itself from the oppressive ways of the Other when actually there are similarities such as hierarchical social systems and economic gaps between people. I illuminated this by discussing the colonial history of oppression and how these systems of privilege and power ultimately helped to form the contemporary sytemic inequality of Sudan between Arabs and Africans. She also speaks about the essentialism involved when the representative third world woman is the marginalized and under privileged (84). I thought Halima Bashir was an example of a woman with more opportunities (she went to school to become a doctor) and the women portrayed in Darfur Diaries who exhibited agency in bettering their collapsing communities. Mohanty's concept of decolonizing feminism was an important and useful application to my project. I do this by exploring Sudanese women's role in forming a community of women struggling towards the same thing and finding solidarity with other international forces that are sensitive to their differences and struggles and willing to listen to their viable suggestions and solutions without their being an ethnocentric overtone to their aid work. I was careful to apply a critique to Western interventions to point out the neo-colonial and male hegemonic views that existed within international aid programs.

I used action research in that I emotionally invested myself in this topic. I tried to empathize with these women and tell their story in a way that illustrated that I felt passionate about their situation and was truly engaged with my research. I thought of the idea Vickers states, “most feminists believe that all knowers are situated in time and space in specific histories and cultures and in class sex and gender and other social aspects of their lives” (70). This was important for me in my research,to understand the fluidity of the women in this situation's identity concepts relative to what they had been through. This helped me to have a great appreciate for their strength in the face of adversity. I therefore focused on the concept of experience and avoided a positivism view of things being totally concrete. By looking at woman's specific experiences I was able to study the research from an empirical perspective because I had more knowledge from women to pull from.

The framework that all these different methods and ideologies fall into is the Feminist Standpoint theory. I focused on the systemic violent pattern that the government afflicted on them and the importance of the woman defining their own experience, showing that their knowledge was what counted.

I used the Postmodern idea of deconstruction by exploring the inadequacies of the binary opposition analytic concerning the people fighting each other in Darfur and setting it within a different frame of thought.

Final Analysis

I learned what it was like for the woman of Darfur before the crisis and how much they lost. I also learned how their gender affects their experience as refugees and what vulnerabilities being a woman in this context brings. I think the best part of my project is the delineation from inappropriate and insufficient discourses that describe Darfur. I would have liked to learn more about what the SWU was doing specifically concerning the refugee situation but could not find adequate information. I know that there is anti capitalist critique that applies but I did not explore that aspect and I think it would provide a broader understanding of international linkages that would have contributed much to my project. As I mentioned before I feel more equipped to get active and involved now that I know so much more, and I want to continue to analyze human rights and woman's issues that I learn about through a transnational frame because it really does provide the most information by bringing things to light that are conveniently hidden behind the dominant discourse.

Annotated Bibliography and Reference page

REFERENCES

Abbott, Kenneth. "Arab Women Play a Role in War-Related Rape in
Darfur." Center of Law and Globilization. Apr. 2004. Amnesty
International. http://clg.portalxm.com/library/keytext.cfm?keytext_id=137.

Abdalla, Issam. "Culture:Zaghawa Language and History." Sudan Vision
Daily: the official website. 20 Sept. 2008. Sudan Vision Independent
Daily. http://www.sudanvisiondaily.com/modules.php?name=news&file=article&sid=3282.

Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa. "Narrating Feminism: The Woman question in
thinking of an African Radical." Differences: A journal of Feminist
Cultural Studies 15 (2004): 152-60. UNT electronic resources. MUSE.
UNT, Denton. http://libproxy.library.unt.edu:2735/journals/differences/v015/15.2abusharaf.html.

Bashir, Halima. Tears of the Desert. New York, NY: Random House, 2008.

Buchbinder, David. "The Road To N'djamena." Interview. Weblog post.
Responding to Threats of Genocide Today. 15 May 2008.
http://www.ushmm.org/conscience/analysis/details.php?content=2008-05-15.

"The Crushing Burden of Rape." 8 Mar. 2005. Médecins Sans Frontières.
http://www.artsenzondergrenzen.nl/usermedia/files/report%20sexual%20violence%20march%202005.pdf.

"Darfur Destroyed." Weblog post. Human Rights Watch. 6 May 2004.
http://www.hrw.org/en/node/12133/section/6.

Darfur Diaries: Message from Home. Dir. Jen Marlowe, Adam Shapiro and
Aisha Bain. Perf. Refugees and the Displaced in Darfur and Chad. Film.
2006.

"Failing Darfur." Video blog post. Human Rights Watch.
http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/features/darfur/index.html.

Heineman, Elizabeth. "The History of Sexual Violence in Conflict
Zones: Conference Report." Radical History Review 2008 (2008): 5-21.
Academic Search Complete. Duke University Press. UNT, Denton. Keyword:
Darfur.

Jen, Marlowe, Bain Aisha, Shapiro Adam, Rusesabagina Paul, and Mading
Deng Francis. Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival. New York, NY:
Nation Books, 2006.

Mertus, Julie. "Sovereignty, Gender, Displacement." Refugees and
Forced Displacement: International Security, Human Vulnerability,and
the State. New York, NY: UN UP, 2003.

Mohanty, Chandra Talpade. Feminism Without Borders : Decolonizing
Theory, Practicing Solidarity. New York: Duke UP, 2003.

Narayan, Uma. "Essence of Culture and a sense of History: A Feminist
Critique of Cultural Essentialism." Decentering the Center :
Philosophy for a Multicultural, Postcolonial and Feminist World. By
Uma Narayan and Sandra Harding. New York: Indiana UP, 2000. 80-100.

Nicholas, Kristof. "Your comments on my Bashir column." Weblog post.
On The Ground. 30 Aug. 2008.
http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/30/your-comments-on-my-bashir-column/.

Steele, Jonathan. "Violence flares in Darfur's Kalma refugee camp as a
new cycle of persecution begins." Guardian.co.uk. 27 Oct. 2007.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/oct/27/sudan.international.

"Sudanese government attacks Kalma Refugee Camp." Damanga Coalition
for Freedom and Democracy. 18 Sept. 2008.
http://www.damanga.org/newsroom/press_releases/2008/press_090508.html.

Vickers, Jill. "Methodologies for Scholarship about Woman." Gender,
Race, and Nation : A Global Perspective. By Vanaja Dhruvarajan and
Jill Vickers. New York: University of Toronto P, 2002. 64-89.

Waal, Alex D. "Tragedy in Darfur." Boston Review. 1 Oct. 2004.
.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abdalla, Issam. "Culture:Zaghawa Language and History." Sudan Vision
Daily: the official website. 20 Sept. 2008. Sudan Vision Independent
Daily. .
This online newspaper gave a in depth description of the Zaghawa way
of life, history,and language. It avoided essentialism by pointing out
very specific aspects of Zaghawa people. The publication was
enlightening and helped me to grasp the Zaghawa way of life better.


Abusharaf, Rogaia Mustafa. "Narrating Feminism: The Woman question in
thinking of an African Radical." Differences: A journal of Feminist
Cultural Studies 15 (2004): 152-60. UNT electronic resources. MUSE.
UNT, Denton. .
Narrating Feminism is a history of the Sudanese Women's Union and the
founder of the organization Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim. It also discussed
the impacts of the SWU on rural women as well as urban. Abusharaf is a
Sudanese anthropologist who writes extensively on human rights with a
gender perspective and is the editor of a magazine called
Circumcision: Multiculural perspectives. She adheres to Narayans
discussion of avoidance of cultural essentialism by noting the unique
experiencesof rural Sudanese women compared to urban. She also
practicies action research. This resource helped me understand what
roles Sudanese woman were playing to provide equal rights to oppressed
woman in Sudan.

Bashir, Halima. Tears of the Desert. New York, NY: Random House, 2008.
Tears of the Desert is the personal story of a Zaghawa woman who
survived her own personal torture at the hands of the Sudanese
government and Janjaweed. Halima Bashir is a medical doctor and since
relocating to London after leaving Sudan she travels around Europe
speaking out for the people of Darfur and is attempting to gain a visa
to come to America to continue her work. She is using Freire's
methodology of conscientization which is the study of oppressive
reality by those oppressed. (GRN, 67). This resource was highly useful
to me in that it provided a very specific detailed experience of a
woman involved in the crisis who was a victim but also a courageous
intelligent women who played a very productive role in helping other
victims of the crisis, it gave me a lot of information on the Zaghawa
tribe that I focused on, and furthered my analysis of the systemic
rape that occurred in Darfur.


Buchbinder, David. "The Road To N'djamena." Interview. Weblog post.
Responding to Threats of Genocide Today. 15 May 2008.
.
Although this interview is primarily discussing the conflict in Chad,
Buchbinder analyzes the linkages between Chad and the displaced
Zaghawa from Sudan in Chad's borders. Buchbinder has made several
trips to Chad and Darfur and is a human rights activist. He discovers
linkages between two different cultural groups who have similarities
as Mohanty would have done. He also places the Zaghawa tribe on a
socipolitico continuum by comparing and contrasting the different
roles they play in the conflict on all sides. This was very useful in
my research from a Transnational theoretical framework

Darfur Diaries: Message from Home. Dir. Jen Marlowe, Adam Shapiro and
Aisha Bain. Perf. Refugees and the Displaced in Darfur and Chad. Film.
2006. This documentary was about the trip three human rights
activists took to Darfur to document the stories of people who fell
victim to the crisis situation in Darfur. Marlowe, Bain,and Shapiro
are the three students who embarked on this journey. Bain and Shapiro
are both human rights activists who have worked with different NGOs,
while Marlowe has done extensive work with conflict resolution
programs globally. They used the format of interviews, where the
personal narratives of the people were the primary source of
knowledge. This documentary was particularly helpful because of the
human face it added to the crisis which was my primary goal

Heineman, Elizabeth. "The History of Sexual Violence in Conflict
Zones: Conference Report." Radical History Review 2008 (2008): 5-21.
Academic Search Complete. Duke University Press. UNT, Denton. Keyword:
Darfur. This article was about how in order to have a greater
understanding about causes and solutions for sexual violence in
conflict zones it is important to learn about the historical
occurrences that have taken place in history that have not been
analyzed and reviewed. Heineman talks about the psychological issues
that come along with rape and the racists agendas behind sytemic rape.
Elizabeth Heineman is an associate professor of history in the UI
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences with a secondary appointment in
UI International Programs. Her methodology included empiricism by
returning to the origins of human rights and pointing out the
patriarchal ideologies. She also stresses the importance of
sociohistorical context when studying violence like Mohanty talks
about. This source was very helpful to me when setting the analysis of
rape within a transnational framework.


Jen, Marlowe, Bain Aisha, Shapiro Adam, Rusesabagina Paul, and Mading
Deng Francis. Darfur Diares: Stories of Survival. New York, NY: Nation
Books, 2006. This book was about the trip three human rights
activists took to Darfur to document the stories of people who fell
victim to the crisis situation in Darfur. Marlowe, Bain,and Shapiro
are the three students who embarked on this journey. Bain and Shapiro
are both human rights activists who have worked with different NGOs,
while Marlowe has done extensive work with conflict resolution
programs globally. They used the format of interviews, where the
personal narratives of the people were the primary source of
knowledge. They also challenged dominant discourse on the Arab/African
paradigm that oversimplifies the issue and makes solutions impossible.
This book was particularly helpful because of the human face it added
to the crisis which was my primary goal


Mertus, Julie. "Sovereignty, Gender, Displacement." Refugees and
Forced Displacement: International Security, Human Vulnerability,and
the State. New York, NY: UN UP, 2003. This essay was about the role
that states and international organizations play in the lives of the
displaced. It also gave detailed description's of woman's unique
experiences in refugee camps and provided solutions on how to better
the situations. Professor Mertus is an Associate Professor and
Co-Director of the MA program in Ethics, Peace and Global Affairs at
American University. She has wrote many acclaimed book on human rights
issues and has worked in many different countries to promote human
rights. She provides a gender analytic to refugee camps in this essay
and also points out how male hegemonic ideals contribute to the
problem of females in refugee camps being unable to utilize their own
sense of identity. This resource was very useful in helping me
understand the unique role gender plays in displacement.


Nicholas, Kristof. "Your comments on my Bashir column." Weblog post.
On The Ground. 30 Aug. 2008.
.
This blog entry was a review of Halima Bashir's novel, Tears from the
Desert. Nicholas Kristof is an American journalist, author, and a
winner of two Pulitzer Prizes. He has written for The New York Times
since November 2001 and is widely known for bringing to light human
rights abuses in Asia and Africa. He points out Halima's sense of
agency, her subjective identity of being a women and not her
victimized status as a women who was sexually violated in Darfur. I
found his thoughts on Bashir's novel poignant and included a quote
from his blog.


Waal, Alex D. "Tragedy in Darfur." Boston Review. 1 Oct. 2004.
. Tragedy in Darfur
is about the Zaghawa people and specific incidences of tragedy in
certain villages, and the ambiguous labels that Arab and African
provide concerning all the citizens of Sudan involved in the conflict.
Alex de Waal is a British writer and researcher on African issues. He
is a member of the Global Equity Initiative at Harvard University, as
well as program director at the Social Science Research Council in New
York City. De Waal is also a co-director of Justice Africa, London. He
avoids essentialism in his article and also analyzes the inaccurate
simplistic definitions of the Arab/African dichotomy. This was useful
because of his non essentialistic insights and his in depth analysis
of specific people.

Narrating Feminism: The Woman Question in the Thinking of an African Radical

Fatima Ahmed Ibrahim is one of the most noted Sudanese feminists alive. She has been the president of the Sudanese Woman's Union since 1956. Her focus has been on the traditional oppressive nature of her culture and what effects it has had on the potential agency of Sudanese women. She has dedicated a lot of research and time to the colonial impact on her culture and its contributions to the subjugation and suppression of Sudanese women. In her book Our Path to Emancipation she goes into detail about the human rights abuses inflicted on her people by the British. The abuse kept women from achieving any social mobility or opportunities to participate in the politics of Sudanese government. They were forced to stay home and remain isolated from society in the name of preserving culture and tradition. This exploitation was approved through these ideological lenses.Thousands of Sudanese lost their lives in anti-colonial uprisings all over the country. The colonial armies suppressed any anti colonial uprisings or sentiments and enforced harsh penalties to those who expressed them. This was justified under the guise of "modernity" and "civilizing". Colonialism led the people of Sudan to believe they were capable of doing nothing but farming and agriculture so that they could remove wealth and all the natural resources for themselves, taking control over all the reaping benefits of the agricultural industry in Sudan. The policies Britain enforced made it impossible for the Sudanese to break out of the mold that had been set for them to remain a source of cheap labor. The British also promoted unequal development which led to the eventual disparities in the economy and cultural clashes that followed and ultimately caused the current crisis in Darfur. Britain's neglect of southern Sudan put ethno religious violence into action just after Sudan received independence.
For seventy five years of "progressive implementations of modernity and civilization" of British rule education was limited, especially for girls. Because of the limited amount of doctors women were treated by untrained midwives and would then fall prey to superstitious beliefs and rituals.

Two pioneering women, Dr. Khalda Zahir and Fatima Talib, established the Women's League in 1947, which ultimately sowed the seeds of women's organizing for change. Education was considered the backbone of change for woman. British colonial forces tried to set up oppositions to the Women's League by using its excuses of upholding culture and tradition. In 1952, the Sudanese Women Union was formed ( SWU) . This organization pushed the agenda of unionizing for working women which the Muslim church publicly opposed due to their fear that unionizing would corrupt the women's morals. The British colonists tried to counteract by organizing rich women of Sudan in another group that opposed the issues that the SWU were pushing. This group of rich women did not deal with poverty or subjugation of woman. Ibrahim discusses the sabotage from the colonialist government that the SWU received because of the unique transformation of women's consciousness that was taking place because of the issues they explored. They had branches all over the country, in villages and all across the southern region.These branches in rural areas allowed women who were isolated within the home to be reached.

Eventually they published the Woman's Voice Magazine which spoke about real women's issues and brought them to the international stage. It also revealed the hold that Islam had on oppressing woman within Sudan. They begin to offer classes and training courses from their headquarters in the urban area of Khartoum. After a successful campaign the leaders started to realize that they were not reaching the whole of Sudanese women, the poor isolated women that needed to be a part of the classes and education programs the most but were unable to make it due to lack of transportation. These issues are still being dealt with.

The SWU works to gather information and stories of women in Darfur and sends this information to international organizations who can provide help. Currently the SWU is technically banned from working in Sudan.

http://www.interpares.ca/en/publications/bulletins/2007/June-2007-Eng.pdf

A dialogue with Julie Mertus: Sovereignty, Gender, Displacement

The importance of sovereignty addressed in this article does not seem to apply to the refugee and internally displaced situation in Darfur. Mertus talks about the empowerment of state sovereignty by allocating the state the authority to govern and address displacement issues in what way they want. The main point addressed concerning state sovereignty is the decline it it however, and the ever present growth of United Nations and NGO personnel playing a large role in the situation affecting displaced people. She makes some good points and is careful to describe cultural and relational feminists perspective on this issue compared to radical feminists. The reason I feel that it does not relate to this issue well is because the state in Sudan is obviously inadequate in providing a safe environment for their refugees due to the nature of their involvement in the crisis situation. However, the situation would definitely support the cultural feminists side of the argument that stresses how states are usually governed by patriarchal ideologies such as military honor for example, and contribute to subjugation, silencing, and suppressing of woman. They encourage international involvement because this is the most effective route in their perspective of implementing a feminist agenda for woman by acknowledging feminized traits, such as caregiving, as important and therefore respectable and dignified. The radical feminist perspective is that dismantling states are harmful for woman because simply transferring power from an oppressive state to oppressive international forces that woman play no subjective role in is a bad idea.

There are many gender specific experiences that women deal with as refugees. Because women are generally the caretakers, this role often and almost always becomes a heavier burden to bear because of the elderly people in camps who need assistance. Displacement dramatically changes economic roles. Women often are required to fill the man of the household's position because so many men are killed in war. Although women take on more economic roles they are worse off in respect of their social and economic rights. Women and girls often eat less and receive less food, and households led by women usually receive less food allocation than male headed households. Woman do not receive the needed gynalogical care, and reproductive services for pregnant woman are scarce, non existent, or completely inadequate.

Women who delineate from the traditional role of women often experience discrimination. This is illustrated in Halima Bashir's story where she experienced violence because she was a doctor and was active in her community in a way that was nontraditional. Mertus also addresses the difficulty when the host country is not accepting of the refugees. This is seen in Chad in recent years because of the newer crisis between Sudan and Chad. One camp called Kalma camp, the largest refugee camp that holds 90,000 displaced, moved thousands of refugees due to issues with Chad and internal conflict where women were experiencing sexual violence from refugees within the camp from other tribes.

When it comes to the type of abuse woman experience compared to men, this is obviously gendered in that women experience nearly all of the sexual abuse from the enemy. This is largely due to the fact that historically women have been considered weak and easily exploitable, and unable to find the resources they need to get retribution for the atrocities committed against them. Mertus outlines 5 reasons for why women are systematically raped in war times: part of the 'rules of war', triumph over men who could not protect 'their' women, soldiers are naturally abusive because of their masculine nature, destroying of victim's culture, and culturally ingrained hatred of woman. To add insult to injury when woman apply for asylum sexual violence and rape victims have hard time proving that what they experienced was direct human rights violation and not random attacks. Often times their experiences are labeled 'not severe enough' to be labeled as persecution.

Fortunately, many international programs are incorporating a gender analytic to their agendas. Gender strategies are meant to give specific attention to issues affecting women and eventually set out to elevate their level in society. The most important aspects of the gender strategy implementations are encouraging and allowing refugee woman to play a part in bettering their position and opportunities, and allowing their stories and unique experiences to circulate in dominant discourse when refugee situations are discussed. This sounds like a great strategy but unfortunately it gets a lot more lip service than actual field play. Aid agencies still look at the people who are affected by these conflicts as victims who need rescuing, not survivors who can help shape their own identities. They need to tap into the skills of the people affected and utilize them so they can feel a sense of empowerment for themselves and contribute to the solution because ultimately it is in the people's hands to do so. Mertus also discusses the cultural insensitivity of male UN workers towards women in camps and therefore this contributes to the lack of protection they receive from perpetrators and the consequent increase in sexual violence. This is also due to the male hegemonic notion and ideology that those with the most masculine traits should assume roles of leadership and that women therefore are not suited for it.

Regarding asylum, most industrialized countries consider you for asylum once you reach the port of entry which most poverty stricken women inside camps do not have the economic assistance to get to this point. The best way to see situations better in Kalma camp and the other refugee camps in Chad as well as the internally displaced in Darfur is for international organizations to see the people they are helping as potentially holding the knowledge to transform their own realities, and also to understand the increased need for protection of women against sexual violence and increased sensitivity to woman's particular reproductive needs.

A Dialogue with Elizabeth Heineman: The History of Sexual Violence in Conflict

Historically sexual violence in conflict zones was considered inevitable and therefore was not allotted a lot of attention and discussion for reform or ending violence against women in wartime. Feminists of the 1970s pressed the issue and wanted the dominant discourse to change so that rapists who committed sexual violent crimes in conflict zones would be held accountable. The beginning of awareness and widespread media coverage was with Yugoslavia and Rwanda when the gendered violence of rape became widely considered a crime of war and human rights violations.

Heineman's article focuses a lot on how other cases of systematic rape of women in wars should be explored and resurfaced to have a greater understanding of these types of atrocities. She states that most sexual violence is generalized by the widely publicized examples that have taken place in contemporary society, including Darfur. To get a good understanding of sexual violence in conflict zones one needs to explore histories of cases not documented. Exploring old histories of sexual violence is necessary to broaden the understanding of sexual violence in conflict zones as a point of discussion all by itself, separate from sexual violence in the private sphere and other locations. She expounds upon the origin of human rights that were established which was the onset of the European Enlightenment which we have all come to find out held highly gendered and racialized ideas. Many of them left out issues that face woman (exploitation in the private sphere and what possible ramifications would come from religious freedom). Within this framework of original human rights notions, rape was seen more as crime against honor than a crime against the body and the physical and psychological injuries that were inflicted. This can obviously be seen as the male's interpretation of rape and how they are affected by it as opposed to the women's personal experience being the important factor.

Heineman also points out the normative aim of rape in war times which are, "deracination in settings where racial or ethnic categories are critical, and demoralizing an enemy that places high value on woman's purity and men's ability to protect them" (11). These would absolutely apply to the raping of women in Darfur.

It was finally in the 70s and 80s that grassroots feminist organizations who included survivors of the "comfort women" in Japan and recent raped women of Bosnia pushed the agenda to establish sexual violence in conflict zones as a war crime.

Heineman also stresses the importance of civilian contexts by saying, "a historical approach contextualizing war deeply in the peacetime setting preceding it offers a more refined understanding of victims experiences and community responses" (14). To apply this framework to the Zaghawa women of Darfur one must consider the role they played in the villages. According to Halima Bashir's account of her Zaghawa village, women did all the work needing to be done. The more wives a man had, the lazier he was able to be. This role that they played in society has extended to endanger the internally displaced women in Darfur because of the long distances they have to travel in order to gather food, water, and firewood. They often go off sometimes alone and sometimes in groups of other women but without any other sort of protection where they becomes victims of rape by the government and Janjaweed.

Heineman also discusses the Thirty Years' War in Europe in the 17th century and how their cultural values shaped the way the victims of rape discussed and responded to it. Women would often keep quiet about the rape in order to maintain honor. And when accounts of traumatized communities arose, it was the in depth stories of men who gave their names and described in detail their own horrific experiences, while the female victims remained nameless. This is also similar to Darfur's situation due to the cultural significance of purity for women and remaining a virgin until marriage. As discussed earlier when I reviewed the documentary Darfur Diaries, I spoke of the lack of women but abundance of male testimonies, who also gave in depth stories and were all named individuals. She also refers to German women who were raped by Soviets in World War II and the detached and "rational calculation" attitude they had toward the crime committed against them. Due to sexual purity not being of such great importance in the context of their society, they did not consider themselves ruined by rape. Again, women in Darfur are alienated from the men in their culture due to rape, and with the consequence of being robbed of their purity, death is often seen as a release from the "soul hell" as Halima Bashir referred to it in Tears of the Desert, of rape. The physical consequence of rape for Sudanese woman should not be left out either. In Bashir's memoir when she discovered the group of school girls that were raped by the Janjaweed she had to stitch the girls back together because of the female circumcision practice of her culture. Compared to western women's understanding of rape it would seem that Sudanese women would suffer more psychologically and physically.

Heineman discusses how important it is to dismantle the taboos linked to sexual violence so that the victims can be accepted back into their communities and also still feel a sense of their own identity. She discusses the importance of women telling their stories because if they do not this will have an affect on the aftermath of the violation as well as the victim rediscovering their own person hood. This can also apply to the perpetrator's view of the victim and the possibility that the stories would allow them to see the victim as a human being. She expounds upon this by saying, "Crucial here was not simply a psychological notion of humanness but a philosophical and sociopolitical approach that rejects nationalism and other ideologies gives smaller units of identification priority over a common humanity. Perpetrators' understanding of their victims as others had enabled them to rape." (18).

Arab/African paradigm

Finding information on Darfur via the internet is not a challenge. There are hundreds of sites, blogs, newspapers, magazines, and organization web pages that are designated to or focus a lot of attention on the crisis in Darfur. From my experience a lot of the information you will find describes the crisis in this context: Arabs hate the black Africans because of their national and ethnic identity and they want to destroy and annihilate their entire race. Although there has been a history of ethnic conflict, and of course many of the Arab militia the Janjaweed have expressed these explanations as to why they commit the heinous human rights violations, this idea of an Arab and African dichotomy is an oversimplification of the complexities of the crisis and the people of Sudan. The Cartesian ideology that we have prescribed to because of the modern age and its philosophies has us westerners trying to make sense and come to a simple conclusion of what constitutes this obscene war in Sudan. It is important to understand the historical makeup of Sudanese people's identities and to also learn about the historical relationship between Arabs and Africans in Sudan.

In Sudan there is 35 million people with over 50 different ethnic groups which also include 600 subgroups. This huge example of diversity can be somewhat broken into three clusters: Arabs in the north who are actually an Arab and African hybrid ethnicity, non-Arabs in the north who have been Islamized and possess different Arab traits while holding onto their indigenous roots, and the southern Sudanese who are largely indigenous. As discussed earlier in this blog the Zaghawa tribe makes up both sides of the conflict. Traditionally in Sudan ethnic conflicts were dealt with amongst the villages and tribes involved. Traditional leaders would enforce inter tribal customs that would allow for the two differing tribes to coexist more peacefully. Even when there was a conflict and even eventual deaths due to this, leaders would use their traditional method of accepting blood money and put the fight behind them so that the village could remain peaceful. Historically inter marriages among tribes often occurred.

In the public discourse relating to Darfur, however, people are often mislead to think that the Arab and African dualism paradigm is the root cause of this issue. The traditional way of resolving issues that I mentioned above was dismantled when the oppressive central government of Sudan took control, weakened traditional practices, and therefore got rid of the traditional ways that tribes coped and dealt with one another. The government has further manipulated and mishandled race relations between the two groups to further their own agenda. This is seen in how they utilize the poor Arab herdsmen and convince them of their racial superiority so that they can be useful in the destruction of rebellious indigenous rebel groups in Darfur. (Again, I do not mean to excuse the Janjaweed of the dark role they played in Darfur). It is also troubling to learn about the Hakama, who are Sudanese Arab women who perform in public. They sing praises to the Janjaweed and encourage their annihilation of black women. It is very difficult to understand how these women could encourage rape and destruction of other women and children. This just goes to show how deep the ideologies of race that the government perpetuates goes. This is similar to what Carol Mason talks about in The Hillbilly Defense regarding white supremacists who actually are situated in disadvantaged positions as lower class citizens but convince themselves or are misguided by the white elite that they are privileged due to race alone. This is particularly detrimental to women because their bodies are often used as tools to perpetuate these hate filled ideologies.

Without taking these important revelations to the conflict into consideration it will be very difficult to help find solutions to the issues that affect citizens of Sudan. Adam Shapiro, co-creator of Darfur Diaries stated, "While citizen activism and pressure on the international community to act to stop the bloodshed and preserve human life is important, utilizing a frame of understanding that polarizes and plays into the mobilization of ethnic, religious, or racial hatred (even if fabricated in this case by the government of Sudan, for the purpose of power) will not help the people of Darfur or Sudan. The politics of power in Darfur and Sudan as a whole cannot be rendered comprehensible by simple, ahistorical notions of Arab and African" (259).

A couple of organization with good intentions but mistakenly adheres to the Arab/African paradigm are the Save Darfur Coaltion and Students Taking Action Now in Darfur (STAND). These organizations perpetuate the dualistic thinking and make viable solution less attainable as Shapiro mentioned. The dichotomy also enables members of the international community with less than noble intentions to perpetuate their own agendas. For example the Arab league provides support for groups in Sudan seeking to identify as Arab elite. The Arab community of Sudan has much more international support than the indigenous groups due to this. Also activist organizations in the United States use this agenda to demonize Arabs, specifically utilizing the 9/11 context. Both of these sides seek and desire military solutions to the issue.

But the truth is that Darfur and the whole of Sudan will not find peace and solutions unless marginalized Arabs and African dialogue together to search for answers to their problems, and it is important that localized narratives are adhered to and listened to to reach lasting solutions for all the people of Sudan.

The heart of the issue...

I've discussed the conflict and the personal effects it has had on individuals and communities , but I have not given a clear summary of what has caused the conflict and the eventual oppressive and demoralizing acts of violence, rape, and murder. Here I want to give a brief political history of Sudan and what led to current events.

Sudan was freed from British colonial rule in 1956. Internal wars among tribes between northern and southern Sudan over land and water began in 1955, just before liberation from England. This conflict ended in 1972 when southern Sudan was granted regional autonomy. In 1983 the government overtook the agreement and the conflict resumed. Omar Bashir became president in 1989 and was highly unpopular with the majority of citizens of the country due to the nature of the small group of power elite that ran the government and he catered to. Dr. Francis Mading Deng writes in the foreword of Darfur Diares: Stories of Survival, "Sadly, Darfur is more the norm than the exception, both in the form and magnitude of genocidal conflicts that have at their roots the mismanagement of racial, ethnic, cultural, and religious diversities" (xxiii).

There is a history of this type of violence being carried out on marginalized groups in Sudan. The variety of cultural diversity in the country has proved to be detrimental too so many because of the governments use of these differences to perpetuate their own agendas. One Darfurian in the book states that the government will continue to wage war on the people of Sudan in other locales besides Darfur if they stay in power because of the similarities of the war raged against the south and now in Darfur. The government of Sudan is highly unpopular as mentioned before and a small power based government such as this one needs chaos to exist in order to justify oppressive acts and retain control. Darfurians began to rebel because they were invisible and completely left out of the peace agreements between the north and the south over land. They were marginalized and therefore their own needs were ignored.

In response the government backed a militia group of Arab tribesman called the Janjaweed and allowed them to desecrate and destroy Zaghawa, Fur,and Masalit villages in Darfur to put the rebels fighters "in their place" by destroying their villages and families. Women experience unique persecution from men in the form of sexual violence. This systemic use of rape is referred to by some as genocidal rape because of the purposes behind it, which are often to impregnate African women with Arab babies. The Arabs involved are also poor marginalized people who had less land and resources than many of the villagers they attacked. They became pawns in the government's plans and were fed propaganda from the Sudanese government that they were better than the blacks because of their national identity as Arabs and therefore convinced them this was the reason for the war being waged against the civilians of Darfur. This was welcomed by Arab tribesman because they had been in previous wars and conflicts with the southern Sudanese over land, water, resources, power, wealth, and developmental opportunities. Having said this, I do not mean to excuse the Janjaweed of the heinous crimes they have committed and their inhumane behavior. They should be charged and punished for extreme human rights violations. I only mean to point out the ideology of the oppressive government that put this systemic violence into play.