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African Indigenous Women: A Fall 2005 Speaking Tour

In late September, MADRE's Executive Director, Vivian Stromberg, will tour with two Indigenous Maasai and Samburu women from Kenya. Lucy Mulenkei, director of the Indigenous Information Network (IIN), and Rebecca Lolosoli, founder of Umoja Uaso Women's Group, will speak alongside Ms. Stromberg about the struggles of African Indigenous women at the local, national, and international level.

Issues such as globalization, sustainable development and the UN Millennium Development goals are the subject of debate in many academic communities. This is a chance to discuss these issues with African Indigenous women whose daily lives and political work reflect a community-based and human-rights centered approach to ensuring environmental sustainability, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and confronting the debt burden facing countries in the Global South.

In Kenya, as in the rest of Africa, the question of who is Indigenous can be a contentious one. Many outside actors, including governments, have a motivation to narrowly define Indigenous Peoples in an attempt to avoid struggles over land and self-determination. African Indigenous Peoples generally distinguish themselves based on their present-day position as Peoples who maintain traditional pastoral and/or nomadic cultures and, as a result, are marginalized by the dominant society. Indigenous women also face discrimination within their own communities. As those primarily responsible for preserving their Peoples' natural resources and traditional knowledge, however, Indigenous women hold the keys to combating poverty and creating strategies for sustainable development, both in their communities and beyond.

In the US, many of us are used to hearing about the tensions between globalization and sustainable development in the Global South in general terms. Yet rarely do we have a chance to hear firsthand from African Indigenous women about the complexities of the issues they confront on a daily basis. This tour will provide that opportunity.

If you are able to provide an honorarium and cover domestic travel expenses for these speakers, please let me know. Travel expenses include airfare, taxi and/or rental car, hotel, and meals; we ask that universities arrange an honorarium in the range of $4,000. If the cost of the MADRE speaking tour exceeds your department's budget, we strongly urge you to partner with other departments, community organizations, and/or religious institutions to co-sponsor this unique and exciting event. Proceeds will benefit the Indigenous Information Network and MADRE's community-based sister organizations in Indigenous communities around the world.

To arrange a speaking engagement, or if you have any questions, please contact us at speakers@madre.org or (212) 627-0444. We look forward to hearing from you.