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.

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