On December 25

On this day in ...

... 1985, an ongoing armed conflict in West Africa, sometimes called the Agacher War because it centered in a resource-rich Agacher Strip between Burkina Faso and Mali, intensified when the troops from the latter country attacked a number of border posts and police stations in the former soon after a dispute over the apparently accidental presence of Burkinabe census agents at refugee camps in Mali. Following failed negotiation efforts by Libya, Nigeria, and the Organization of African Unity, a ceasefire was achieved 5 days after the outbreak of what in Burkina Faso became known as the "Christmas War."

(Prior December 25 posts are here and here.)

On November 25

On this day in ...
... 1958, a colony in West Africa known as French Sudan "gained complete internal autonomy" (flag at left). Five months later it would join with Senegal to form the Mali Federation, a fully independent entity within the French Community for a few months in the summer of 1950, until Senegal seceded. Thereafter, in September 1960, "French Sudan proclaimed itself the Republic of Mali and withdrew from the French Community."

(Prior November 25 posts are here and here.)

Look On! "Mrs. Goundo's Daughter"

(Look On! takes occasional note of noteworthy films.) "Mrs. Goundo’s Daughter,” a new documentary by Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, is a sensitive and galvanizing account of gender discrimination at the intersection of culture and bureaucracy. (View a clip here.)
The filmmakers follow a mother’s struggle to keep her family from being deported to Mali. The documentary focuses on the serious harm caused by female genital mutilation/cutting practices.
I’ve discussed the complexities in a 1995 article, Between Irua and Female Genital Mutilation: Feminist Human Rights Discourse and the Cultural Divide and in a more recent article on “Female Genital Mutilation and Female Genital Cutting” in the Encyclopedia of Human Rights.
Awaken!, an excellent newsletter published by the women’s human rights NGO Equality Now!, tracks developments on the issue in English, French, and Arabic. IntLawGrrls Fiona de Londras and Jaya Ramji-Nogales posted here and here on human rights and gender asylum decisions involving FGM-FGC. This World Health Organisation Bulletin discusses some grassroots eradication efforts in Mali.
FGM-FGC practices violate international human rights norms and are prohibited under instruments such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, and the Maputo Protocol.
The practices cause serious physical injury and death to infants, girls, and women in practicing regions. Yet because FGM-FGC is deeply rooted in community and family traditions (but not required by any formal religion), the practices remain widespread among some ethnic groups. Many countries now outlaw the practices. But the private circumstances under which they occur mean that indigenous community-based education and organizing are important keys to ending FGM-FGC. (On legal and political approaches, see Anika Rahman & Nahid Toubia, Female Genital Mutilation: A Practical Guide to Worldwide Laws and Policies.)
In the film, Mrs. Goundo, who experienced FGM-FGC as a girl, works with an immigrant community leader in Philadelphia, an asylum lawyer, and her husband to prevent her own daughter from returning to Mali. Goundo understands that even if she and her husband object, grandparents, relatives, or other community members might well force the practice on the child.
But there’s another problem. Mrs. Goundo must request legal status for herself under the byzantine U.S. immigration and asylum laws, or else be separated from her U.S.-born daughter and other family members.
Attie and Goldwater provide a nuanced treatment of her predicament. They place Mrs. Goundo and her family in the context of a supportive immigrant community and explore the challenges of navigating the U.S. legal system successfully. They also travel to Mali, where they interview local women’s rights and health advocates who condemn and educate against the practices. They also surface the stereotypes and misinformation that lead some religious and cultural leaders to support them despite the awful consequences.
"Mrs. Goundo's Daughter" is never graphic, but makes the danger and emotional trauma to girls abundantly clear. Students should be prepared in advance with readings on the subject matter and instructors should plan time for discussion after showing the film.
Consultants on the film included leading refugee and gender-asylum expert Deborah Anker and yours truly. The documentary is an effective way to begin discussions about the complex legal, gender, and cultural issues involved. Heartfelt thanks to research assistant Alexis Smith for her help with this post.

On April 11

On this day in ...
... 1992, in Mali's capital city of Bamako, the Pacte nationale (English summary) was signed with the aim of ending years of fighting between the government of Mali and Tuareg rebels in the northern part of the country. The agreement called for greater democracy in elections and governance, and a subsequent plan called for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR). The U.N. Development Programme has written of this period:

The National Pact initially brought peace. But in this poverty-stricken, drought-afflicted democracy, the newly elected government had no money to finance DDR, and western donors were remarkably unsupportive of the new President. The disappointed Tuareg movements took up arms again, determined to obtain a share of the national pie. Meanwhile, opposition parties refused to accept that they had been beaten in a fair election, bringing students into the streets. By 1994, the fragility of the government was extreme and civil war was a real threat.

... 1689 (320 years ago today), London-born Princess Mary and her Hague-born cousin, William of Orange, were crowned co-rulers of England. This coronation of William III and Mary II (left) followed William's 1688 invasion of the island country and ouster of King James II, Protestant Mary's Catholic father, on invitation of Protestants in Parliament. It's written that "Parliament ... wanted the throne to be the sole possession of Mary, with William serving as Prince Consort, but Mary refused due to her self-imposed subservience to her husband." The couple's reign was marked by armed conflict in Ireland and Flanders and by Mary's delivery of 3 stillborn children, so that on William's death in 1702 Mary's sister became England's Queen Anne.

(Prior April 11 posts are here and here.)

On women playing well

To Jaya's excellent post yesterday on "Olympian Courage," I'd like to add a bit more recognition for women's plays during this Summer Games season.
Here's to:
► Hamchétou Maïga-Ba (left) and all the women hoopsters who represented Mali. These 2008 Beijing Games marked the 1st time a women's basketball team was sent by the country, which the New York Times described as "a predominantly Muslim country where women are subject to traditional subservience, genital mutilation, inequitable access to education and household violence." But the simple feat of fielding a team may have begun to change things. Maïga-Ba, who plays forward for the Women's National Basketball Association's Houston Comets, said of the land of her birth:

'Everybody is proud of us, even the guys.'

► Mona Eltahawy (right), an Egypt-born, New York-based commentator. She published in the Washington Post a stinging op-ed, which criticized Saudi Arabia for not including any women on its Olympic team. The Post then published its own editorial echoing Eltahawy's complaint.
Caveat:
No country deserves to claim too-high ground on the matter of women in the Olympics. The Times article reminds:

Women were not allowed to participate at the 1896 Summer Games in Athens, the first Olympics of the modern era.
They were expected to contribute applause, not athletic skill. Not until 1984 were women permitted to run the Olympic marathon, in reefer-madness fear that they might grow old too soon with such exertion; or worse, they might grow a mustache.
Or their uterus would fall out, as if it were a transmission.

Nineteen women competed in the 1900 Paris Olympics. The art student who took 1st place in the 9-hole golf tournament (above), Margaret Abbott, "is now recognized as the first female American Olympian winner."
Even today, when many women from many countries compete in many events, there's much room for improvement. More than 1 commentator's wondered if women's beach volleyball would get as much air time if its bikini-clad competitors covered up. (To which should be added this question: Would an activity so singly centered in 1 nation even be included in inter-national competition absent the costumes?) Then comes news, from Nayeli Rodriguez at Slate's XX Factor blog, on "the International Table Tennis Federation’s latest strategy for reversing low attendance to its matches": "draw attention to the sexier side of table tennis" by "urging lady players to adjust their competition outfits to flaunt more 'curves.'" (credit for 2007 photo at right of Chinese champion Wang Nan)
Here's hoping one day for an Olympics where attention's focused on how well women played, and not on how well they looked while playing.