Women’s Studies: war and peace

NEW PALTZ — As war looms on the horizon, the Women’s Studies Program at SUNY New Paltz is sponsoring several presentations and two photography exhibits in late March and early April focusing on war and peace.

On March 27, at 5 p.m., in Lecture Center 104, Women’s Studies will celebrate women’s history month with a talk by Sandi Cooper, professor of history at the College of Staten Island. Her talk will be entitled “Peace Possibilities, Gendered Visions: the Path from the Past,” and will describe the history of women’s peace activism in Europe and the United States.

Professor Cooper has published widely on peace movements and women peace activists in the United States and Europe. She has written over 30 articles, essays and critical introductions to books and is currently working on a book tentatively entitled “Women, War and Peace: 1889-1940.”

On April 2, Women’s Studies will bring to campus three African peace activists to present a lecture and workshop on women’s participation in the peace process in Africa and ways to educate young people about peace. Isha Dyfan is a human rights lawyer from Sierra Leone who directs a program on human rights and Peace building for the International Women’s Tribune Center. Bibiane Aningina Tshefu is a peace activist for Women as Partners for Peace in Africa and has participated in recent peace negotiations including the Inter-Congolese Dialogue. And Remi Alapo is a program associate in the Hague Appeal for Peace, an organization which has recently published “Learning to Abolish War: Teaching Toward a Culture of Peace.” The morning workshop will be at 10 a.m. in Lecture Center 108, and the evening lecture, “Women and Peace in Africa,” will be held at the Honors Center in College Hall at 4 p.m.

In addition to the lectures, Women’s Studies is sponsoring two photography exhibits on the SUNY New Paltz campus featuring images of Iraqi people. Photographs by New Paltz resident, Lorna Tychostup, will be exhibited in the lobby of the Sojourner Truth Library from March 17 through March 28. Tychostup took these photographs on a recent visit to Iraq.

“Faces of Iraq,” co-sponsored by Women in Black, consists of 40 images taken by seven photographers who have lived in or visited Iraq. The photographs will be on display in the Honors Center in College Hall, room 111, from March 24 through April 2. An opening reception will be held from 5-7 p.m., Wednesday, March 26, at the Honors Center.

All of the above exhibits and lectures are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Denise Bauer at (845) 257-2978.