SIETAR-Kansai - Past Monthly Programs

October 2004

Women at War - Civil and Military Margins in Israeli Society

Date:
October 31, 2004 Sunday 14:00-16:00

Presenter:
Tina Ottman (Ritsumeikan University)

Place:
Takatsuki Shiritsu Sogo Shimin Koryu Center: 3F, Rm1
1 minute walk from JR Takatsuki St. South Exit

Tel: 072 - 674 - 7700

Fee:
Members and Students 500 Yen, Non-members 1,000 Yen

Language:
English

Description of the Program:
Security issues have dominated our collective consciousness since 911, and for activists an additional, more diffuse, gendered debate - about the meaning of "human security" - has replaced that of "human rights". But what do those issues mean for women in Israel and Palestine? From the Women in Black to the Women in Green, from Bat Shalom/ the Jerusalem Link and the Machsomwatchers, and from Tali Fahima, the first Israeli woman ever to be administratively detained for her contact with the commander of the El Aqsa regiments in Jenin, to military service refusenik Laura Milo, sent to Prison 400 for the second time, for another 14 days. I will explore women's politics of belonging in a fractured region where multiple identities of nation, gender, ethnicity, and religious belief are held together by "imagined communities".

Profile of the Presenter:
Tina Ottman (UK/Israel) is the daughter of a German Holocaust refugee. She emigrated from the UK to Israel in her early 20s, where she later married a Sabra(native-born Israeli). She has lectured in Japan for several years, most recently at Nihon University's College of International Relations in Shizuoka, and now at the College of International Relations in Ritsumeikan University, where she teaches courses on Middle East area studies and gender in English. She has been active in the women's movement in the UK, Israel and Japan.

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