Events & exhibitions
event • Conferences & Symposia

Women Making Democracy

  • Thursday, March 29, 2012 through
    Friday, March 30, 2012
  • Radcliffe Gymnasium
    10 Garden Street
    Cambridge, MA 02138
Speaker at "Women Making Democracy"
Photo by Jessica Scranton

Each year, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University hosts a conference that explores from many perspectives the role of gender in a significant aspect of the human experience. This year’s conference, titled "Women Making Democracy," will consider the role of women specifically—and gender more generally—in movements for democratic change.

Activists, journalists, and academics from different fields and disciplines will examine and analyze recent events in countries affected by the democratizing efforts often described as “Arab Spring” and compare women’s experiences of these events with those of women in other moments of democratic change around the world, including Eastern Europe, South Africa, and Latin America.

Event Videos

Speaker opening with welcoming remarks at

Welcoming Remarks and Keynote Address


WELCOMING REMARKS

Lizabeth Cohen, Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies, Department of History, Harvard University


Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government, Professor of African and African American Studies, and Harvard College Professor, Department of Government, Harvard University


Keynote Address by Shahira Amin, Egyptian journalist


Q&A moderated by Leila Ahmed, Victor S. Thomas Professor of Divinity, Harvard Divinity School

Speaker at

Women, Rights, and Power


Introduction by Jane J. Mansbridge, Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values, Harvard Kennedy School


Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director and Senior Analyst, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies


Rima Khalaf, Undersecretary General and Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia


Heba Raouf Ezzat, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University


Ann Snitow, Director, Gender Studies Program, and Associate Professor, Literature and Gender Studies, Eugene Lang College for Liberal Arts, the New School; Cofounder and Board Member, Network of East and West Women (NEWW)


Q&A moderated by Jane J. Mansbridge

20090906 Women Making Democracy 7711 Radcliffe

Comedian Al-Ahzaan (Comedy of Sorrows)


Directed by Rebekah Maggor


Translated by Rebekah Maggor and Mohammed Albakry


WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

Lizabeth Cohen, Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies, Department of History, Harvard University


Dramatic Reading of Commedia Al-Ahzaan (Comedy of Sorrows)


Rebekah Maggor, Director, Comedy of Sorrows; Lecturer, Department of English, Vanderbilt University


Ibrahim El-Husseini, Playwright, Comedy of Sorrows


Cynthia Schneider, Former United States Ambassador to the Netherlands; Distinguished Professor in Practice of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service; and Associate Professor of Art History, Department of Art and Art History, Georgetown University


Moderated by Robin Young, Host, Here & Now, WBUR

Speaker at

Public Places, Alternative Spaces


Introduction by Hashim Sarkis, Aga Khan Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urbanism in Muslim Societies, Department of Urban Planning and Design, Graduate School of Design, Harvard University


Nadje al-Ali, Professor of Gender Studies, Centre for Gender Studies, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London


Mounira Charrad, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Texas at Austin


Philip N. Howard, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Jackson School of International Studies, Information School, University of Washington


Shireen Hassim, Professor of Politics; Department of Political Studies, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg


Q&A moderated by Hashim Sarkis

Audience at

Representing Women: Culture, Religion, and Revolution


Introduction by Malika Zeghal, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Professor in Contemporary Islamic Thought and Life, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University


Dalenda Larguèche, Professor of History and Women Studies, Université de la Manouba (Tunisia)


Beth Baron, Professor of History, the City College of New York; Codirector, Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, the Graduate Center, City University of New York; Editor, International Journal of Middle East Studies


Elzbieta Matynia, Associate Professor of Sociology and Liberal Studies; Director of the Transregional Center for Democratic Studies, The New School for Social Research


Q&A moderated by Malika Zeghal

Speaker giving closing remarks at

Rapporteur Discussion and Closing Remarks


Introduction by Nancy Rosenblum, Senator Joseph Clark Professor of Ethics in Politics and Government Political Theory, Department of Government, Harvard University


Leila Fawaz, Issam M. Fares Professor of Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean Studies; Founding Director, Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies, Tufts University; President, Board of Overseers, Harvard University


Temma Kaplan, Professor of History, Department of History, School of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University


CLOSING REMARKS

Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government, Professor of African and African American Studies, and Harvard College Professor, Department of Government, Harvard University


Lizabeth Cohen, Dean, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study; Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies, Department of History, Harvard University

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