Our newest voice: Marjorie Florestal

IntLawGrrls begins the New Year with a new member.
She's Marjorie Florestal (right), Associate Professor of Law at University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento, California. She's an expert on the business side of international law; in particular, on international trade and development.
Before joining academia, Marjorie worked on those issues within the government, as Managing Attorney for Africa, Commercial Law Development Program, U.S. Department of Commerce, and as Assistant General Counsel, Office of U.S. Trade Representative. Most recently, as she posts above, Marjorie has served as Senior Legal Advisor helping Cape Verde to prepare to become a member of the World Trade Organization.
Marjorie's most recent publications are Terror on the High Seas: The Trade and Development Implications of U.S. National Security Measures and Technical Assistance Post-Doha: Is There Any Hope of Integrating Developing Countries into the Global Trading System?
As she describes in her post below, Marjorie dedicates her IntLawGrrls contributions to Anacaona, who reigned in the 16th century as queen of Hispaniola, the island that now contains the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Heartfelt welcome!

In honor of Anacaona

I speak in the name of Anacaona (? – 1503), the sixteenth century Taino queen who ruled over the island of Hispaniola before the arrival of the Spaniards. Anacaona was a warrior-poet whose court was famed for its cultural contributions; the “Golden Flower” surrounded herself with beauty and was renowned for her ballads, ballets, poetry, and plays. But the Taino queen was equally cunning and strong: Xaragua, the kingdom she commanded after the death of her brother, was the last to succumb to Spanish conquest.
I am drawn to Anacaona for the diversity of her talents. She shows that a warrior may also love beauty, that strength is more than mere physicality, and her status as founding mother for both Haitians and Dominicans alike attests to her ability to bring disparate cultures together. For those of us focused on international justice issues, these are lessons well learned.
I am grateful to Diane Amann and this community for providing such a forum. For more information on Anacaona’s legacy, I suggest Edwidge Danticat’s 2005 book Anacaona: Golden Flower.