Two graduates will present their theses – and compete for prizes – at the Graduate Program in Education Spring Colloquium May 26.

Opiyo Oloya (right) (PhD ’10) and master’s graduand Farra Yasin will explain their final academic projects in the Senior Common Room, 021 Winter’s College, from 4:30 to 6pm.

Oloya is a high school principal who fled Uganda in the early 1980s. The former pro-democracy fighter’s dissertation, “Becoming a Child Soldier: A Cultural Perspective from Autobiographical Voices”, explores how Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) transformed abducted children into soldiers. Oloya highlights the importance of culture in turning children into soldiers and in creating a resilience to survive their ordeal in the bush. As a researcher, Oloya is also interested the peace process, humanitarianism and the impact of war on society and culture.

Yasin teaches Grade 8, has a passion for writing and used to run an art gallery. Her MEd thesis explores middle-school students’ use of comic strip figures and creative writing to construct their identity. She has presented her work at conferences of the National Council of Teachers of English, the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Faculty of Education Graduate Students.

All are welcomed to attend. Refreshments will be served.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Left: Annie Bunting

Bringing together historians of slavery and women's human rights scholars, this workshop will explore the phenomenon of forced marriage and enslavement from comparative and historical perspectives.

During conflicts in Sierra Leone, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda and Rwanda, women were kidnapped, raped and forced into "marriages" with combatants. recently found such gender violations to constitute a new crime against humanity of forced marriage as opposed to sexual slavery.

Workshop speakers will explore the merits of prosecuting those responsible for forced marriage under the heading of Sexual Slavery, Forced Marriage or Enslavement? They will also explore the historical antecedents of servile marriage and enslavement of women.

A keynote presenter at the workshop is , chair of the Women's Forum in Sierra Leone, a national umbrella organization of women's groups in the region. M'Carthy has been working with the for the past three years and will speak about the experiences of female victims in the Sierra Leone war. Other presenters will discuss comparable practices in Uganda, Rwanda and the DRC.

Speaking at the workshop are:

• , president of Free the Slaves
• Gaëlle Breton-LeGoff, a lecturer at the University of Quebec in Montreal
• 91��ɫ law & society Professor
• , a senior researcher in children, armed conflict and human rights at the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University
• 91��ɫ Distinguished Research Professor Paul Lovejoy, director of The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples and
• Rosaline M’Carthy, President, Women's Forum of Sierra Leone
• , Open Society Initiative for Eastern Africa (OSIEA), Harvard Law School
• Osgoode Hall Law School Professor
• University of Hull Professor Joel Quirk,
• , RCUK Fellow in International Slavery at the University of Liverpool
• , 91��ɫ PhD candidate in history, The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples
• Jody Sarich, DePaul University, Free the Slaves

This workshop is the first of two conferences supported by a grant. In February 2011, Bunting will host a larger international conference in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Today's workshop is supported by numerous areas at 91��ɫ, including the Nathanson Centre on Transnational Human Rights, Crime & Security, the Office of the Provost, the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, the dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS), and The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples.

For more information, visit The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples website or contact Kathy Mirzaei, interim graduate program assistant, Department of Sociology, LA&PS.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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