Indigenous Women & Human Rights

Making Visible the Problem of Invisibility

by paula gerber

(2009) 83(10) Law Institute Journal 52

There are a number of aborigines who are unable to prove their identity; either because their birth was never... more There are a number of aborigines who are unable to prove their identity; either because their birth was never registered, or because they cannot satisfy the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages’ prerequisites for obtaining a birth certificate. This article explores how the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 addresses this problem.

'Our Way of Life is Our Resistance': Indigenous Women and Anti-Imperialist Challeges to Militarization along the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall

by MARGO TAMEZ

Restoring Lipan Apache Womens Laws, Lands, and Strength in El Calaboz Rancheria at the Texas-Mexico Border

by MARGO TAMEZ

Indigenous Knowledges in Latin America and Australia: Locating Epistemologies, Difference and Dissent | December 8-10, 2011

by Victoria Grieves

This two day symposium and one day film festival will bring together Indigenous educators and intellectuals from Latin... more This two day symposium and one day film festival will bring together Indigenous educators and intellectuals from Latin America to Sydney to meet with interested Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators, scholars and activists, as well as non-Indigenous practitioners and allies, to discuss different models and approaches of Indigenous KnowledgeS and Education in the tertiary sector and beyond.

This project aims at helping educators and researchers in the Higher Education sector of Australia and Latin America to identify opportunities for integrating in their research and teaching and learning relevant aspects of Indigenous Knowledges in the areas of culture, education and sustainability.

Apart from the symposium itself, academic publications, public lectures by distinguished visitors and the creation of a website, the project will stimulate debate on Indigenous Knowledge and film production in Latin America and Australia by hosting a documentary screening on the topic. The selection of documentaries will be done in collaboration with the Sydney Latin American Film Festival, and this event will be targeted to the student population and the wider community.

Universal Human Rights and Non-Western Normative Systems: A comparative analysis of violence against women in Mexico and Pakistan

by Silvie Bovarnick

Published in the Review of International Studies. (33): 59-74.

Abstract:

How universally useful are human rights in addressing violence against women? This paper... more Abstract:

How universally useful are human rights in addressing violence against women? This paper addresses this question by looking at the link between gender, ethnicity and human rights to uncover the complexities that underpin current debates about universal justice and multiculturalism. While my discussion of rape in Mexico and Pakistan illustrates significant particularities with respect to how violence against women is constituted in these different cultural contexts, it also shows that culturally specific manifestations of violence against women often share striking similarities in the way that they are allowed to persist, justified and made invisible. As such, they are part of a global mechanism that reproduces gender subordination in a predominantly patriachial world.

Plants Used for Reproductive Health by Nahua Women in Northern Veracruz, Mexico

by Vania Smith-Oka

Journal of Economic Botany

This paper reports the use of medicinal plants by Nahua women in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. It documents the... more This paper reports the use of medicinal plants by Nahua women in the state of Veracruz, Mexico. It documents the women’s plant knowledge for reproductive purposes, which includes uses such as conception, pregnancy, birth, contraception, menstruation, post-partum, and general reproductive health. The concept of equilibrium is very important in regaining health among the Nahua; consequently, many of the medicinal plants have this as their primary purpose. The introduction of biomedical clinics and hospitals in the region has had a significant effect on the loss of knowledge about medicinal plants. Additionally, the midwives are not taking any new apprentices and laywomen are not passing on their knowledge to future generations. This generational gap contributes to the loss of knowledge about medicinal plants. This research contributes to the study of indigenous ethnobotany by (a) creating a record of the plant knowledge possessed by indigenous women, (b) giving voice to some of their health concerns, (c) indicating how the introduction of biomedicine has affected their plant use, and (d) providing a framework for understanding howmarginal peoples around the world respond to the impact that globalization and change has on their health needs and local ethnobotanical knowledge.

Unintended Consequences: Exploring the tensions between development programs and indigenous women in Mexico in the context of reproductive health

by Vania Smith-Oka

Published in Social Science and Medicine

This article offers a case study of the politics of reproduction present between development programs,
medical... more This article offers a case study of the politics of reproduction present between development programs,
medical practitioners, and population policies in Mexico. It particularly explores how these policies have
shaped indigenous women’s family planning choices. It analyzes the unintended consequences that
emerge from the interaction between indigenous women, medicine, and an economic development
programdOportunidades. The study was based on participant observation and in-depth interviews
carried out between 2004 and 2007 with 53 women, as well as doctors and nurses, in northern Veracruz.
Results show that the close association of government policies with medical practitioners serves to
constrain women’s reproductive decisions. Medical practitioners use this association to promote the
state’s concern for family planning, unintentionally disempowering their target population. This article
uses a political economy of fertility framework to look at broader processes affecting women’s choices
beyond the personal or domestic level. Such a framework allows us to analyze these connections and
place women’s reproductive rights within a larger struggle for human rights and dignity.