Students listening intently to speakers-- this week and throughout our semesterThis past week, CGE Mexico, Spring 2008 spoke with leaders in the Mexico feminist movement. We began the week by speaking with anthropologist Dr. R. Aida Hernandez Castillo about social movements, religion and women. In addition, we made a visit to the organization Communication and Exchange for Human Development in Latin America, CIDHAL, a women’s center dedicated to gender equity and human rights. To give a little slice of what happened during this week, I’d like to provide the reader with a special comment from each:
Dr. R. Aida Hernandez Castillo’s talk really touched me in that she explained her academic and her organizational work as a personal and academic transformation. She explained that she used to reject the traditional form of feminism, thinking it a privileged, American ideal that should not be imported to Mexico. She explained that she disliked how much of the feminist theory at that time was from the US, and she considered it irrelevant for not accounting for power structures in anthropologic works. Earlier in her career, Hernandez Castillo studied mostly class and poverty structures in Latin America. However, through various personal and professional experiences, this perception changed. She realized one cannot accurately grasp the full picture of class and poverty without considering the intersectionality of class, economics, religion, gender, race, etc. (Dr. R. Aida Hernandez Castillo, Center for Global Education Presentation, March 15, 2008). It struck me beautiful the way she has evaluated how her personal and professional experiences are intertwined. I feel that often times in the US we falsely compartmentalize the different sectors of our lives, when really everything we do at any moment in time profoundly affects us and consequentially everything else that we do. I think it is excellent that the group had the opportunity to see such a whole person in her “public” and “private” lives.
At CIDHAL, Flor Dessire Leon Hernandez spoke with us about the basic history, definition, and theories of feminism in Latin America. She gave us CIDHAL’s definitions of feminism, patriarchy, and equality and also provided us with CIDHAL’s operating philosophies. I greatly appreciated this information, as it provides me with a great basis to understand not just what the group does, but why they do what they do. For example, CIDHAL provides basic health services to women and men at free or reduced costs at their facilities. Many organizations
provide such a service, but CIDHAL does it because, as Leon Hernandez explained, CIDHAL sees the body as the instrument for change. If one does not respect the body and keep it healthy, then the ability to end oppressive power structures is inherently week. As a side note, I found it impressive that CIDHAL boasts one of the largest libraries on female health, feminism, and gender issues in Latin America. She commented that scholars from the UNAM even come to their facilities to study. They put a high priority on available information for the education and personal improvement of individuals so that he or she may also go out and work on gender equality and human rights in home communities. (Flor Dessire Leon Hernandez, public presentation, April 18, 2008)
Dr. R. Aida Hernandez Castillo’s talk really touched me in that she explained her academic and her organizational work as a personal and academic transformation. She explained that she used to reject the traditional form of feminism, thinking it a privileged, American ideal that should not be imported to Mexico. She explained that she disliked how much of the feminist theory at that time was from the US, and she considered it irrelevant for not accounting for power structures in anthropologic works. Earlier in her career, Hernandez Castillo studied mostly class and poverty structures in Latin America. However, through various personal and professional experiences, this perception changed. She realized one cannot accurately grasp the full picture of class and poverty without considering the intersectionality of class, economics, religion, gender, race, etc. (Dr. R. Aida Hernandez Castillo, Center for Global Education Presentation, March 15, 2008). It struck me beautiful the way she has evaluated how her personal and professional experiences are intertwined. I feel that often times in the US we falsely compartmentalize the different sectors of our lives, when really everything we do at any moment in time profoundly affects us and consequentially everything else that we do. I think it is excellent that the group had the opportunity to see such a whole person in her “public” and “private” lives.
At CIDHAL, Flor Dessire Leon Hernandez spoke with us about the basic history, definition, and theories of feminism in Latin America. She gave us CIDHAL’s definitions of feminism, patriarchy, and equality and also provided us with CIDHAL’s operating philosophies. I greatly appreciated this information, as it provides me with a great basis to understand not just what the group does, but why they do what they do. For example, CIDHAL provides basic health services to women and men at free or reduced costs at their facilities. Many organizations
provide such a service, but CIDHAL does it because, as Leon Hernandez explained, CIDHAL sees the body as the instrument for change. If one does not respect the body and keep it healthy, then the ability to end oppressive power structures is inherently week. As a side note, I found it impressive that CIDHAL boasts one of the largest libraries on female health, feminism, and gender issues in Latin America. She commented that scholars from the UNAM even come to their facilities to study. They put a high priority on available information for the education and personal improvement of individuals so that he or she may also go out and work on gender equality and human rights in home communities. (Flor Dessire Leon Hernandez, public presentation, April 18, 2008)I am thoroughly excited that I had the opportunity to experience these amazing speakers this week. We are only improved by the knowledge that they bring.
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