Tuesday, February 27, 7 p.m.
Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive, Bettendorf IA
Global issues of gender oppression, shifting roles, social justice, and more will be explored in the Bettendorf Public Library's latest presentation by the World Affairs Council of the Quad Cities, with the February 27 lecture “Between the Covers: Shaping Feminism in Bangladesh & India” delivered by Augustana College's Associate Professor of English Umme Al-Wazedi.
In addition to the B.A. she earned at Rajshahi University in Bangladesh, Al-Wazedi holds M.A. degrees in English from both Rajshahi University and Eastern Illinois University, and received her Ph.D. in English from Purdue University with a Women's Studies Graduate Minor Certificate. Her teaching and research interests include British, Black, Asian-American, and postcolonial (particularly Asian, African, Caribbean, Polynesian, and Irish) literature, feminism, women and the "Third World," and trauma and translation theory.
Al-Wazedi's lecture will focus on showing how the literary space of women's magazines – primarily Bangladesh's Begum and India's Manushi – functioned, and will address three questions: (1) How did magazines such as these guide Bangladeshi and Indian housewives toward feminist concerns such as gender oppression, violence against women, and women's shifting roles in a transitioning society? (2) How did these particular magazines function as a space for women outside their homes and communities? (3) Has this feminist space transformed into other arenas, such as a space for activism toward social justice in modern Bangladesh and India in the effort to make the world a better and just place? As Al-Wazedi states, “This research is particularly important now because of the need for reassment, and for an ongoing effort to document and analyze South Asian women's magazines and their content to understand what aspects are responsible for creating social awareness and social justice.”
“Between the Covers: Shaping Feminism in Bangladesh & India” will be presented at 7 p.m. on February 27, and more information on the World Affairs Council of the Quad Cities is available by visiting WACQC.org.
