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Women for Peace Against Fundamentalisms Steering Committee Members
Sara Ababneh (Jordan)
Sara Abaneh holds a DPhil from St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford. She is currently a Researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies, at the University of Jordan. She has worked as a research assistant at the University of Wales, the University of Oxford and the University of Jordan Center for Strategic Studies. She was a teacher’s assistant at Earlham College. Sara’s chief research interests are International Relations theory, Gender and Islamic studies. In particular she focuses on women in the Arab world, Islam and women, Islamic history, resistance struggles and change. From a theoretical point of view she is mainly interested in feminism, postcolonial and post structructural theory, in addition to Marxist theory.
Sara has also worked as a facilitator for conflict resolutions programs and cultural exchange programs including SOP Beyond Borders, Soliya and IOU Respect Hostelling International.
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Nadia Fadil (Belgium)
Nadia Fadil is a postdoctoral fellow at the Sociology Department of the Catholic University of Leuven. Her research deals with the religious practice of second generation Maghrebi, as well as the funding and recognition of mosques. As a sociologist and anthropologist, her work focuses on Muslims in Belgium and Europe and questions of subjectivity, embodiment, multiculturalism and secularism viz Foucault’s notion of governmentality.
Nadia is a well-known public intellectual who challenges Islamophobia, racism and sexism in public debate. She was born in Antwerpen, Belgium to a Moroccan-Muslim migrants to Belgium in the labour migration of the sixties. As a scholar/activist she has been involved in networks that have mobilized against the headscarf ban. She is a board member of Ella, a feminist interfaith and interethnic women’s organization, which challenges liberal and eurocentric feminisms and has been prominent in challenging the headscarf ban. She also works closely with BOEH! (Baas Over Eigen Buik) a platform of Muslim and non-Muslim feminist that was created in 2007 to challenge the headscarf ban in the municipality of Antwerp. She has written for the Belgian daily Le Soir (2009-2010) and Mo Magazine (2010) and is co-author of a book on the multicultural debate in Belgium (Leeuw in een Kooi, 2009, Meulenhoff-Manteau).
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Aruna Gnanadason (India)
Aruna Gnanadason holds a Doctorate of Ministry in International Feminist Theology from the San Francisco Theological Seminary. She is recipient of three honorary doctorate degrees. She has worked as a lecturer at a number of colleges including the Ecumenical Christian Centre, Whitefield, Bangalore, where she was Dean.
As Director of the Women’s Programme of the World Council of Churches (1991-2007), her programmatic focus was on the power of women to forge links of solidarity, creating networks for justice and peace. Through her work with the WCC Aruna visited Croatia, Sierra Leone, Kenya, South Africa, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Sudan, East Timor, (now The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste), Indonesia, Ghana, Palestine and Israel among others on “women to women” solidarity visits. These visits both gave a platform to the struggles that women experience in contexts of conflict and to affirm the specific contributions women are making in working for peace. This work drew links between conflicts, war, and violence against women, militarization, colonialism, imperialism, and global economic injustice.
Aruna has contributed articles to Christian and secular journals, magazines and books particularly on issues related to women and to North-South relations. She has edited several publications including the regular newsletter of the Ecumenical Decade of the Churches in Solidarity with Women – the Decade Link. She is the author of the book No Longer a Secret: The Church and Violence Against Women, (1997) and Listen to the Women, Listen to the Earth (2005) both published by the World Council of Churches in the Risk Book Series. She co-edited several books including the WCC Publication Women, Violence and Non-violent Change.
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Carmencita Karagdag (Philippines)
Carmencita Karagdag holds an MA in Asian Studies from the University of the Philippines.
She is a member of the Philippine Independent Church (PIC), and has actively served the ecumenical movement in various capacities, locally and internationally, since her youth. She was the Executive Director of the Commission on Ecumenical Relations and International Affairs at PIC. She was the Executive Director, Resource Center for Philippine Concerns, Tokyo; the Founder of the Mission for Filipino Migrant Workers, Hong Kong; and the Founder of the Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives, Hong Kong. A staff member of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) program unit on Ecumenical Education and Nurture, she also co-chairs the IFI Commission on Ecumenical Relations and International Affairs. A World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee member from 1968-75, she was re-elected to the Central Committee at the WCC's eighth assembly in 1998. She is a member of the Justice, International Affairs and Development Committee of Christian Conference of Asia, and sits on the Commission on Ecumenical Relations and International Affairs of the Philippine Independent Church (PIC). Carmencita is the founder of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines Women's Desk; the convenor of the Ecumenical Women's Forum; and a Board member of the International Women's Alliance. She is currently Executive Coordinator of Peace for Life, a People’s Forum for Global Justice and Peace.
Carmencita is the co-editor of Peace, Disarmament and Symbiosis in Asia-Pacific, Quezon City, Philippines: Conference on Peace, Disarmament and Symbiosis in the Asia-Pacific, 1995; and the co-author of Beyond the cold war : Philippine pe[r]spectives on the emerging world order, Manila: People's Diplomacy Training Program for Philippine NGOs, 1992.
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Septemmy Eucharistia Lakawa (Indonesia)
Septemmy holds a Doctorate of Theology from Boston University. Her research interest was on Missionary work in the aftermath of religious violence in Indonesia. She lectures on missiology, contextual theology and ecumenism at the Jakarta Theological Seminary.
Septemmy is an ordained minister of the Protestant Church in South-East Sulawesi, Indonesia. She is involved in inter-religious dialogue in South east Asia. She also coordinates the Jakarta Seminary's Centre for Research and Service to Society, is general secretary of the Association of Theologically Educated Women in Indonesia and chief editor of the Indonesian women's theological journal Sophia. She collaborates with various NGOs dealing with violence against women and the impact of international debt as well as with NGOs working with displaced people. She has been a member of the WCC Executive and Central Committees since 1998.
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Esha Faki Mwinyihaji (Kenya)
Esha Faki Mwinyihaji holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from Moi University, Kenya. She is a Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Maseno University, Kenya. Her areas of specialization and interest include: Islam; gender and religion; African religions; new religious movements; religion and media; religion, violence, conflict and peace affairs; and interfaith dialogue. Her research focus is in the field of Muslim Women’s rights with a focus on education, politics, marriage, inheritance and property ownership.
Esha works with Kenyan Muslim women at the grassroots level concerning these rights. Ms. Mwinyihaji was involved in a research project with Volkswagen Foundation on Shari’a Debates in Selected Muslim Countries from 2006-2009, and is currently researching on the subject of drug use among Muslim youth. She has been a consultant with PROCMURA, the Programme for Christian–Muslim Relations in Africa and has facilitated programs run by the organization in Egypt, Kenya, Ethiopia and Tanzania. She is a member of WISE, Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Theology, and the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians.
Esha is co-author of, The belief and practice of divination among the Swahili Muslims in Mombasa district, Kenya featured in the International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology. She contributed to the anthology ‘Looking at Religion in the eye:' Essays in the Sociology of Religion. She is also the author of “Sharing the National Cake”: Kenyan Muslim Sensitization through Media as well as The Contribution Of Islam Towards Women Emancipation: A Case Study Of The Swahili Muslim Women In Mombasa District.
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Denise Nadeau (Canada)
Denise Nadeau holds a Doctorate of Ministry in International Feminist Theology from San Francisco Theological Seminary, a Masters of Letters from . St., Antony's College, Oxford and aMasters of Divinity from Vancouver
School of Theology. She resides on Coastal Salish Territory in British Columbia, Canada.
Denise is a scholar–activist who works as a practical theologian, movement therapist, and popular educator. Currently she is an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at Concordia University and Research Associate at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, Montreal. She was Acting Director of the Interfaith Institute for Justice, Peace and Social Movements at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, from 2006 to 2010 and a Visiting Scholar at RAGA (Race, Autobiography, Gender and Age Studies), University of British Columbia, in 2010-2011.
Denise's recent work has been in the development of curriculum and programs which educate about racism and colonialism as well as combine expressive art therapies and spiritual practices in the repair of social suffering caused by sexist, racist, heterosexist, colonial and war violence. In 2009 she co-developed and wrote the University of Victoria Lenonet Staff and Faculty Aboriginal Cultural Training (SFACT) curriculum. She has worked in both ecumenical and interfaith contexts for many years, with a focus of Indigenous-Settler relationships and educating against Islamophobia. In 2006 she was on West Coast LEAF’s Multifaith Women’s Advisory Committee on Women’s Religious Freedom and she has been involved in debates about religious accommodation in Quebec since 2009. She continues to be focused on the racialization of religious minorities with an emphasis on Islam and Indigenous Traditions. Her activism has included involvement in campaigns to stop secret trails and racial/religious profiling.. Her publications include Counting Our Victories: Popular Education and Organizing and numerous articles on decolonization and deconstructing whiteness in Christian practice.
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Dana Olwan (Canada)
Dana holds a PhD in English Literature with a specialization in feminist theory from the Department of English at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. She is the Ruth Wynn Woodward Junior Chair and Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University (Burnaby, British Columbia).
Dana’s academic work focuses on gendered and colonial violence against women. She is currently working on her book project, Bodies that Matter in Death: Honour Killings in Canadian Racial Logics. This work focuses on the highly publicized murders of twelve Muslim Canadian women and the national debates they have evoked about the status of women in Canada, violence against women in racialized communities, and questions and anxieties over assimilation, accommodation, and multiculturalism. Dana is also editor of Muslim Mothering: Local and Global Histories, Theories and Practices, a collection of essays addressing how religious practices shape and inflect mothering and the institution of motherhood in Muslim communities (Demeter Press 2012). More broadly, Dana studies the racialization of Muslim men and women post 9/11, violence, and debates over religious accommodation in multicultural states like Canada.
In 2010, Dana became involved with the NoBill94 campaign, a coalition of concerned individuals, organizations and grassroots movements organizing against a proposed Quebec legislation to deny essential public services to women who wear the niqab. She has written and spoken against this bill in a variety of mediums, including an article appearing in rabble.ca entitled, “The Unfairness of Bill 94 Unveiled.” In addition to her work with this coalition, Dana served on the Islamic History Month Committee of Kingston, Ontario, and is former National Chair of Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, and is a current member of Faculty for Palestine.
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Ofelia Ortegas (Cuba)
Rev. Dr Ofelia Ortega Suárez, of the Presbyterian-Reformed Church in Cuba, holds a Masters in Divinity (1980) Union Theological Seminary, Matanzas, Cuba as well as a Masters in Education (1989) University of Havana, Cuba. Ofelia has been the Vice-President of the Alliance of Reformed Churches since 2004; the Moderator of the Commission on Theological Education of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches since 2004; the Vice-President of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches since 2004; and has served as the President of the World Council of Churches since 2006.
As well Ophelia has worked as the Vice-President of Community of the Ecumenical Theological Seminaries in Latin America and the Caribbean, since 1997. She worked as a Professor at the Ecumenical Institute of the World Council of Churches, Bossey, Switzerland, (1985-1993); as President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba from 1997 to 2004; as the President of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba from 1997 to 2004; and as Vice-President of the Community of the Ecumenical Theological Seminaries in Latin America and the Caribbean, since 1997. Ofelia has lectured widely throughout the Caribbean, Latin America, India, Africa, Europe, North America.
Ofelia was the first Presbyterian woman to be ordained in Cuba. She served as the rector of the Evangelical Theological Seminary (SET) in Matanzas from 1996-2004, leading it to become a multi-faceted ministry of social service and community involvement. Ofelia worked at the World Council of Churches from 1988 to 1997 as Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean in the Programme on Theological Education. In Cuba, beyond her responsibilities with the seminary, she served as volunteer in the rural areas during the national literacy campaign, as well as for the Ministry of Public Health.
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Kathryn Poethig, M.Div, Ph.D. (United States)
Kathryn holds a Ph.D. in Religion and Society, Graduate Theological Union; M.Div. Union Theological Seminary; B.A. Anthropology, University of Chicago
Kathryn has lived and worked in issues related to Southeast Asia for over thirty years. She is currently Associate Professor of Global Studies at California State University, Monterey Bay. Dr. Poethig's work focuses on progressive religious citizenship in Southeast Asia, particularly in areas of complex conflict and peacemaking. She has written on the Dhammayietra, the annual peace walk in Cambodia as transnational example of engaged Buddhism. More recently, she has focused on Filipino feminist theologians’ frameworks for “just peace” for both Communist and Muslim insurgencies in light of the US war on terrorism.
Dr. Poethig is on the Working Committee of the People’s Forum on Peace for Life, a Global South-based interfaith initiative resisting militarized globalization and creating life-enhancing alternatives. She has also served on the Board of Center for Women and Religion and has led delegations investigating the intersection of religion and politics to Cambodia/Vietnam, to China for the NGO Forum of the 4th U.N. Conference on Women, and to the Philippines.
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Jasmin Zine (Canada)
Jasmin Zine is an Associate Professor, Sociology,& Director of the M.A program in Cultural Analysis and Social Theory [CAST] at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her areas of teaching and research include critical race and ethnic studies, postcolonial theory and anti-colonial research methods, education and social justice, cultural studies, Canadian Muslim studies and Muslim women's studies. Her publications include numerous journal articles on Muslims and education in the Canadian diaspora as well as the field of Islamic feminism and Muslim women’s studies.
Her book entitled: Canadian Islamic Schools: Unraveling the Politics of Faith, Gender, Knowledge and Identity (University of Toronto Press, 2008) is the first ethnography of Islamic schooling in North America and she has recently edited a book entitled Islam in the Hinterlands: Exploring Muslim Cultural Politics in Canada for the University of British Columbia Press (forthcoming). She is also co-editing a book on the literary, cinematic and cultural representation of Muslim women entitled Contested Imaginaries: Transnational Feminist Reading Practices, Ethics and Political Concerns. Presently she is conducting a national study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) on the impact of 9/11 and the ‘war on terror’ on Muslim youth in Canada. In addition she is also working on an international project with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (ODHIR/OSCE), the Council of Europe, and UNECSO on developing international guidelines for educators and policy-makers on combating Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims.
Jasmin Zine is presently serving as Secretary on the Association of Muslim Social Scientists-North America Board and she has coordinated the AMSS Canadian Regional Conference for 5 years.
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