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19.1 (Spring 1995) Women and War

Women, War, and Development in Ethiopia

Secareda Mariam was twelve years old when her mother died, leaving her orphaned and solely responsible for the maintenance of the plastic shelter she and her mother built for themselves out of discarded shopping bags and pieces of cloth. "Who will help me fix my plastic during the rainy season?" she asks, pointing to the rood of her eight foot by four foot makeshift dwelling. Squatting in a hollow corner of her house, she looks down at her toes as they draw anxious circles in the dust.

The Power of the Powerless: Update from Chiapas

On the eve of the first anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and, simultane-ously, the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico is confronting the collapse of the neoliberal economy pieced together by President Salinas de Gortari. The measures he took-privatization of industries, "reform" of the agrarian law that was the cornestone of the 1917 Constitution, the liberalization of trade confirmed in NAFTA-all seemed to ensure the restructuring of the economy in accord with the neoliberal model.

Update: Empowering Indigenous Women of Burma

In 1994, women of Burma's ethnic minority groups continue to be systematically abused by the regime's military. Teenaged girls of the Rohingya Moslem nationality are being taken from their families and bought to government army bases for long-term "training programs." The Rohingyas fear that this is a disguise for sexual slavery, which has been a constant feature of the army's occupation of the Moslem area of western Burma. Cross border trade in indigenous women to Thailand and China for forced prostitution has continued, often exploiting very young girls.

The Paradoxes of War and Its Aftermath: Mayan Widows in Rural Guatemala

Between 1978 and 1984 the western highlands of Guatemala became a "killing field." It was there that the Guatemalan army waged a rural counterinsurgency operation against not only a small, armed guerrilla force, but also against a large unarmed, civilian, and mostly Mayan population (Falls, 1994). It was the most extensive attack on the highland indigenous people since the time of the Spanish invasion five centuries earlier. By the Guatemalan military's own admission, it destroyed over 440 rural communities in the highlands and partially razed countless others.

The Great Spirit in a New Era: Gaming on Pequot Tribal Land

Indian gaming has often been discussed by the press in ways that promote misinformation, negative stereotypes, and public opposition. The 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), however, was passed to empower tribes to enter into gaming as a means of economic development and a method of promoting strong tribal governments. To date, gaming has been one of the few opportunities for Native Americans to achieve economic stability and prosperity, enabling them to exercise greater sovereignty and independence.

REINVENTING TRADITION: THE WOMEN'S LAW

The armed conflict that broke out in Chiapas on the first of January has brought up many questions about the general picture of the Indigenous population. Different historical experiences have defined the way in which Indigenous people displaced from the highlands, as well as immigrants, view their identity and how, through armed struggle, they take a stance politically opposed to the Mexican government.

Nuns' Stories: Liberation Theologies and Violence in the Philippines

New social movements that emerged in the Philippines from the 1960s offered a new mazeway for citizens. Such revitalization movements included the progressive (or politically left) Catholic Church, the women's movement and the movement for national liberation. Within their own sets of discourses, respectively liberation theology, feminism, and Marxism, new social movements have reinvented notions of "nation" as both systems of cultural representation and shared experiences of community and identification.

Mayan Women and the Politics of Health

In this article I examine the relation between the politics of reproduction and Mayan women within the social structure of the Guatemalan nation-state. In particular, the focus is on the abortion debate as engaged in the Church, Guatemalan ladina feminists, and a popular organization of Mayan women. (While the term "ladino" refers to the mixed-blood Guatemalan population, the term "Maya" designate the indigenous people who, in Guatemala, constitute a numerical majority.

When Feminists Think About Rwanda

It is dangerous indeed to be urged to dampen one's sense of surprise. Commentators frequently describe ethnic conflicts in places such as Bosnia and Rwanda as the outgrowths of "ancient" hostilities. Thus, their eruptions in the 1990s allegedly should not surprise us. It follows, then, that we need not be particularly curious about their origins. In choosing the adjective "ancient," these observers are implying that hostilities between these groups are a-historical, that they go back so far that it is a waste of our time and energy to figure out their causes.

UN Peacekeepers and Cultures of Violence

The psycho-social impact of persistent and widespread violence on people living in warzones has far-reaching consequences for both indigenous and outside attempts to facilitate peace. Today, more than ever, it is women and children who bear the greatest burden of violence, through brutality, rape, torture, and murder, and who suffer the greatest percentage of death due to war.

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