SEMINAR- Surveying Local Responses to Domestic & Sexual Violence in Kyrgyzstan, SRC-AUCA, Apr 28

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SEMINAR- Responses to Domestic & Sexual Violence in Kyrgyzstan, SRC-AUCA, 4/28

Posted by: Social Research Center - AUCA <src@mail.auca.kg>

The Social Research Center (SRC) at the American University of Central
Asia (www.src.auca.kg) under its Research Seminars Series presents:

RESEARCH SEMINAR: "Surveying Local Responses to Domestic and Sexual
Violence in Kyrgyzstan"

SPEAKER: Christina M. Stoltz, Fulbright Scholar, Kyrgyzstan

Time: 4:30pm, 28 April, 2009
Venue: 232, AUCA (main building)

Language: English

Abstract: As the emerging nation-states of Central Asia attempt to
inscribe places for themselves within a democratic/capitalist model,
this paper addresses the ethical, cultural, and geopolitical
implications of structural adjustment on Central Asian women's crisis
intervention organizations. Specifically, this paper examines the
ways in which donor driven ideologies are built into the structures
and practices of crisis center management in Kyrgyzstan in order to
identify how international donor involvement affects crisis center
program development, conflict resolution, and direct advocacy.

Using the Kyrgyz Women's Resource Center/Shelter Sezim as a primary
case study, this paper examines the facilitation of Kyrgyz crisis
centers, their communication with U.S. financiers, and their roles
within domestic and international social, political, and economic
structures. Offering psychological rehabilitation to victim-survivors
of gendered violence through social advocacy and community building,
Kyrgyz relief organizations, like Sezim, challenge people to avoid
cultural and gender bias, while addressing the practical needs of
women and children affected by Kyrgyzstan' s broad-based growth as a
democratic capitalist country. Assisting victim-survivors since 1998,
the Sezim Crisis Center has revolutionized Kyrgyz social and political
attitudes towards reproductive health, domestic violence, and human
trafficking. Although the center participates in international
awareness-raising campaigns, its autonomy remains constrained by its
accountability to the Kyrgyz government, which owns the center's
workspace, and to international donors, who publish the center's
training manuals and oversee its local policy initiatives. The paper
explores the dueling feminisms, which the Sezim Crisis Center must
navigate to establish its national platform and to comply with
international funding standards.

The theoretical underpinnings of this study's critical framework
include third-world feminist geographical analyses, in addition to
content analyses of interviews conducted, from December 2006-October
2008, with international educators, researchers, crisis advocates and
government representatives involved in domestic violence and gender
awareness campaigns throughout the United States, Russia, and Central
Asia. Globally contextualizing this critical framework, I will
supplement my Fulbright research and direct service at the Sezim
Center with information and resources I obtained as a certified crisis
intervention advocate in the United States (2006-2007) and as a human
trafficking field analyst in Moscow, Russia (Angel Coalition,
2007-2008) to examine the current decision making structures and
empowerment models of local and regional Kyrgyz crisis organizations.

Bio: Christina M. Stoltz has got her Master degree in Gender Studies
from Dartmouth College, USA. She taught various topics on gender
studies at the same college before coming to Kyrgyzstan. At present,
Christina is an Adjunct Professor at Cultural Anthropology Department,
AUCA, and Sexual Violence Intervention Specialist at "Sezim" Crisis
Center in Bishkek.

Research Seminar Series: The Research Seminar Series is an initiative
of the SRC and it aims at providing a venue for the AUCA faculty,
local and foreign scholars to share the results of their current and
previous research projects with other scholars. The series intends to
encourage scholarly discourse at AUCA.

How to register: Please, RSVP to asamidinova_a@mail.auca.kg to give
your name and affiliation.

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