Department of History, UC Santa Barbara

Robin and Robert Jones present "Refugees on the Greek Island of Lesbos"
2016-04-14 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | McCune Conference Room (HSSB 6020), Humanities and Social Sciences Bldg, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, United States
On Thursday, April 14th at 2pm in HSSB 6020, Robin and Robert Jones will speak about their experiences working with refugees landing on the Greek island of Lesbos.
Their presentation is co-sponsored by the History Department, the Center for Middle East Studies, and the Argyropoulos Hellenic Studies Endowment.
Robin and Robert Jones live part of their year on the Greek island of Lesbos, which is a major landing area for desperate refugees from war-torn Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. The refugees arrive in rubber rafts, crossing the strait from Turkey, under harrowing conditions; many die en route.
Robin (center) greets a family waiting at a transit station. Women and children composed 50 percent of all refugees who fled to Europe by sea in 2015.
The Jones’ have put together a photographic exhibit of the refugees – their arrival and living conditions – and the children’s drawings, along with a PowerPoint presentation documenting this world event. They were intimately involved in providing assistance and support and now they want to tell the refugees’ stories.
It is a story that needs to be told, and puts a very human face on what otherwise is, for most people, a five minute clip on the news. It also provides an important counterpoint to the “immigrant as terrorist” narrative that dominates the news these days.

You can read more about Robin and Robert in the Independent: http://www.independent.com/news/2016/mar/10/horror-and-hope-lesbos/

"The Journey: Domestic Violence Legislation in Ghana" by Prof. Akosua Adomako Ampofo
2016-04-15 15:00 - 16:30 | HSSB 4020, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, United States
Daily, all over the world, women and children (especially) are abused by intimate partners and family members, friends and colleagues. While a legal infrastructure and legal responses will not end gender-based violence (GBV) and domestic violence (DV), they can provide reliefs for survivors of violence. They can serve as spaces from which GBV and DV can be discussed and explained, as well where advocacy can occur. This talk chronicles the journey traveled by women’s rights advocates for the passage of DV legislation in Ghana. The advocates faced considerable resistance but also built strong alliances and learned about effective methods of strategizing among different constituencies helpful in other areas of struggle. They learned more about “deconstructing” notions of GBV. The lessons learned in Ghana suggest strategies for mobilizing and advocacy that are useful for women and men globally, including the United States.
Professor Akosua Adomako Ampofo, Director of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, is a sociologist who has published widely on gender (including masculinities), sexuality, children and socialization, and feminism. She was the first head of the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy at the University of Ghana.
Organized by the IHC’s African Studies RFG, with co-sponsorship from the Hull Chair in Feminist Studies and the Department of History.

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See more events sponsored by the IHC’s African Studies RFG
