Feminism in African Society

PROVO, Utah—“What kind of power [do] women [have]?” asked Dr. Penda Mbow, minister of Francophone affairs and personal counselor to the president of Senegal. “It is a power to influence.”

Mbow visited BYU’s campus and gave three lectures, including “Women in the Public Sphere in Africa,” a keynote address in the Women’s Studies Conference. In this address, she explained the current state of women in African society and stated a need for change.

“We need to understand the dynamism of [African] women and their central role by participating in democracy and really being a citizen,” said Mbow.

Mbow explained that historically, African society was matriarchal. Legacy and inheritance were passed down through the mother. Now, however, only men control power in Africa, which can be largely attributed to European colonization. The women are not treated as true citizens; women are objectified and looked down upon, and they have little political influence. Mbow noted that it is important to question these things, so that women can obtain a larger role in society and equality.

Mbow classified women’s powers into two categories: the public and private spheres.

Public power comes out through economic and political involvement. Currently in Senegal, both of those are discriminatory. Society questions whether or not women have a place in the workplace or government; however, Mbow explained that women do find hope from the role played by the state.

After Senegal became independent in 1960, President Léopold Sédar Senghor’s administration supported a feminism of the state. This policy brought legal reform and institutions and created new roles for women by organizing women in different levels and using this organization to shift their position and put pressure on society. Then in 1972, the Senegalese voted to change the age of marriage and also changed the view of the polygamy system, which was a step toward a new status for women. Furthermore, the feminist state created a period of economic dynamism.

Regardless of the benefits of state feminism on society, however, these changes were met with resistance from conservative and religious factions and resulted in what Mbow called a “crisis of masculinity,” with repercussions in the private sphere.

While Senegalese women do preside over the household chores, they are still subject to men in the home. Women are typically less educated than men, and they hold less weight in the decision-making process for a household. Furthermore, there is the issue of rampant domestic violence. Mbow explained that as women gain more power in the public sphere, men grow more insecure in the private sphere, and domestic violence increases. Mbow asserted that domestic equality needs to be reached, and the gap between women’s power in the public and private spheres needs to be bridged.

“How can we have equality in society if we don’t share the work inside the house?” questioned Mbow. “How can we be equal if we don’t have the same rights, if we don’t have the same possibilities?”

Mbow noted that things are changing in African society, and feminism plays a causal role in that. Women are beginning to participate more in politics; they are sharing and participating in power as a way to bring about change. Women are also becoming more involved in the economy; they are gaining access to credit, land and development and are working more.

“In every area, you can find women trying to push and produce some change,” said Mbow.

Mbow does not believe that African society has reached a system of equality yet, but it is on its way there. Once a woman is elected into power in a context of peace and economic development, Mbow believes equality can be obtained.

David Delbar: Discovering the Ancient with Modern Researching Techniques

PROVO, Utah—When classics and comparative literature student David Delbar received an email advertising the Center for Hellenic Studies research program last winter, he was quick to disregard it due to an already full schedule. After being encouraged by several professors, however, Delbar applied to the program. A few months later and with the support of the College of Humanities, he was on his way to meet with eleven other students in Washington, D.C.

Delbar attended the fully funded, nine-day Information Fluency in Classics workshop at Harvard University’s Center for Hellenic Studies (CHS) this July. The workshop is a chance for undergraduate students to learn about the sources of information available in the study of classics and how to effectively access and analyze these sources.

“On the individual level, [the workshop] was to help us be aware of what [resources] there are so that we could learn how to use them in our own research,” Delbar said. “More broadly, it’s trying to steer classics into the digital age.”

To help the participants learn these lessons, students attended several sessions with guest speakers, including Harvard’s copyright lawyer, who discussed the impending end of Mickey Mouse’s copyright, and an epigrapher, who taught about inscriptions. Students also visited the Library of Congress and Dumbarton Oaks’ Byzantine Library and honed their research skills by creating a practice bibliography on a topic of their interest.

Ultimately, CHS stresses that this workshop serves to provide students with the resources and skill set needed to play a supportive role in their university departments. Delbar believes this is effective.

“I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know about before. I learned about a lot of really basic research tools that so far I hadn’t learned here at BYU,” Delbar explained. “I think sending me there – how that was useful – is that I can see if there’s anything we missed and make sure that’s incorporated into our program [here at BYU].”

After attending the workshop, Delbar continued to pursue knowledge throughout the summer. He took two semesters of Hebrew; edited Scandinavian articles on literature for a professor; and translated Ancient Greek business memos as part of the Zenon Papyri Project.

Now entering his last year at BYU, Delbar has many things to look forward to. This semester, Delbar will be continuing a research project on the corollaries between the Ancient Greek god Dionysus and the main character of Miguel de Unamuno’s San Manuel Bueno, Mártir. He is also applying to graduate school programs for classical studies, where he plans to specialize in Ancient Greco-Roman religion.

The skills he learned this summer have already proven to be invaluable in his research, and they will continue to be useful as he pursues his education and career

“Most students don’t learn about these resources until their graduate studies,” said Delbar. “I have a huge head start now.”

Muslims in Europe: Questioning Identity and Values in a Time of Change

PROVO, Utah—Europe’s refugee crisis is in the headlines across the globe, which has spurred on hundreds of questions for leaders and citizens. Can European nations support the influx of refugees? Are the nations willing to do so? How will Muslim refugees and migrants be accepted into society?

Café CSE speakers Daryl Lee, associate French professor, and Quinn Mecham, assistant professor of political science, along with moderator Wade Jacoby, a political science professor, discussed the integration of Muslims into European society and the identity issues that accompany it.

Jacoby started the session by asking, “To what extent does a practicing Muslim in Europe today run into problems with a European host society of which he or she may not be a full citizen at that moment?”

Lee explained that in France, Muslims face societal struggles daily. France’s version of state secularism, wrapped up in the term laïcité, isolates public and religious spheres of society in an attempt to guard the state from religious interference. This differs from the United States’ Establishment Clause, which was designed to keep the state from interfering with religion. Laïcité is an innate part of French culture and is supposed to keep religions equal, but it has become controversial for being deployed to outlaw the hijab in public institutional spaces such as schools. This has led many Muslims to feel that laïcité is being used to target their religion and culture. Because their language and appearance serve as easy identifiers of their religion, many Muslims in France have  fallen victim to amalgam, a term used to describe the confusion of an everyday practicing Muslim for an Islamist.

Lee noted, however, that the situation varies within France because there are various groups of Muslims throughout the country. The variety of groups throughout Europe, then, is even greater.

“The problems begin when you step into another country,” said Lee. “It’s not quite as simple as saying Europe has a single Muslim problem.”

Mecham related this back to Europe’s current refugee crisis. He explained that even within their host nations, many Muslim populations are isolated geographically in lower class areas. They often do not associate with their host societies because they have different backgrounds, and many nations are now viewing this as a threat.

Mecham cited the example of Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, who called the flow of Muslim refugees a threat to Christian Europe. In a similar fashion, British Prime Minister David Cameron gave a speech in July where he outlined a “counter-extremism strategy.”

“Europe is wrestling with this idea of what European values are and to what extent those are different than the assumed values that Muslims moving to Europe might take on,” said Mecham.

Mecham, who worked with refugees during his time at the State Department, noted that this wave of migration is different. He explained that many of these refugees do have skills, and they would not have left the country if it were safe. This presents Europe with the opportunity to expand their economy; however, Mecham is unsure that European nations have both the capacity and will to receive such a high influx of refugees.

There are also many cultural concerns that accompany the refugee crisis in Europe –trying to incorporate a community that has not had the same experience with human rights and government is a daunting task. However, Lee thinks this mass displacement will spur on a cultural revolution as people seek to answer the question of identity. He explained that the children of immigrants find a voice through music and literature that helps them explain their search for identity, resolution and acceptance.

“I’d be curious ten years from now to see the kinds of stories, poetry and music that comes from this mass migration and see how these people are going to celebrate, narrate and explain through fictional means their acceptance or lack of acceptance,” said Lee.

Lee and Mecham agreed that the question of identity is pertinent to Muslims in Europe, but Europe has a history of diversity, and that is an asset.

“There’s an underlying European value of giving people opportunities and expressing appreciation for diversity, and those kinds of things may allow Europeans to successfully reach out to Muslim communities,” said Mecham.

Experiencing Humanity in Two Days, One Night

PROVO, Utah (September 15, 2015)—For theDardenne brothers, filmmaking is about more than just entertainment; filmmaking is an art form that comments on the human condition. In anInternational Cinema lecture, Bob Hudson, assistant professor of French, explained this unique form of social-realism that makes Two Days, One Night(Deux jours, une nuit) such a captivating film.

In the film, Sandra (Marion Cotillard) suffers from extreme depression and, as a result, a Xanax addiction. She works at a solar panel factory, but has not been to work for four months. When her best friend calls saying that a vote has been taken and she is going to lose her job, Sandra rushes to the factory to convince her boss to hold a new vote on Monday morning. He agrees, so she is left with a weekend – two days and one night – to track down each of her 16 co-workers and convince them to vote for her. The catch, however, is that if they vote for her, the workers will lose their end-of-the-year bonus.

The film follows Sandra as she travels through Liège, Belgium– the Dardenne brothers’ hometown and where they film all their movies – in a series of claustrophobic shots. Hudson explained that the Dardenne brothers use handheld cameras without Steadicam for their films, and they stay true to other naturalistic tendencies: they use natural lighting and avoid non-diegetic elements.

“As you’re watching [their] film[s], sometimes you think you’re watching a documentary,” said Hudson. “It almost seems like you’re watching a slice of real life.”

Hudson further explained that the Dardenne brothers do not dress up Liège in their films; they keep the scenes of muted colors to describe urban life in a realistic – and often bleak – way. Hudson said that films about Paris typically make the viewer want to go to Paris, but “if you watch any of the Dardenne brothers’ films, they don’t make you want to go to Liège.”

Over the course of the weekend, Sandra struggles with her own demons; her appearance becomes more ragged, so the viewer can see the effect of the events on her mental health. Hudson compared a picture of Cotillard in this film to a picture of her receiving an award to expound this example of the Dardenne brothers’ realism. They left the character in a natural and messy state, which makes her relatable and, most importantly, human.

Through Sandra’s journey, the Dardenne brothers address several themes which Hudson noted are present in all their films: unemployment, abandonment, immigration, exploitation, humanity and redemption.

It is because of their focus on redemption, Hudson believes, that the Dardenne brothers received the Robert Bresson Prize, a prize awarded by the Vatican at the Venice Film Festival to the director who best bears artistic testimony to the difficult search for spiritual meaning in life.

“Their films never really leave you happy at the end, but there is this moment of redemption that I think makes it worth your time and emotional investment in the characters,” said Hudson.

Becoming Learners and Lifters at the 2015 University Conference

PROVO, Utah—As slides listing student achievements rotated overhead, faculty and staff made the annual pilgrimage to the Marriott Center to attend the 2015 University Conference. BYU president Kevin J. Worthen greeted the congregation warmly as the overhead hum of jazz music disappeared and he prepared to announce awards and give a formal address.

Worthen expressed his appreciation for BYU’s gifted professors as he presented university awards. Five professors from the College of Humanities were honored for their contributions to the university.

Karl G. Maeser Research and Creative Arts Award

Mark E. Davies (Linguistics and English Language)

Lance E. Larsen (English)

Abraham O. Smoot Citizenship Award

Edward S. Cutler (English)

Adjunct Faculty Excellence Award

Deborah L. Harrison (English)

Douglas K. Christensen Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellowship

Martha M. Peacock (Comparative Arts and Letters)

Worthen followed up his own remarks from last year’s University Conference by focusing on BYU’s mission statement, “Assist individuals in their quest for perfection and eternal life.”

Worthen began by congratulating the university on the reaffirmation of its accreditation and its student successes, then asked, “What about the future?”

He referred to President Eyring’s talk at his own inauguration when he stated that BYU’s course was laid out in one sentence by Brigham Young: “Put forth your ability to learn as fast as you can, and gather all the strength of mind and principle of faith you possibly can, and then distribute your knowledge to the people.”

Worthen explained this statement’s significance through three insights. First, those at this university have an obligation to learn as quickly as possible. Second, learning of this sort requires both a strong mind and faith. Third, our responsibility does not end with the acquisition of knowledge; we are required to distribute the knowledge we have gained to bless others. By following these three steps, we will create an environment of “learners and lifters,” in the words of President Eyring.

The relationship between learning and lifting is already being accomplished at BYU through mentored learning and research and off-campus internships, Worthen explained, citing the example of a group of engineering students who designed an inexpensive, lightweight motorized wheelchair. These types of experiences will be a high priority in the upcoming year.

Worthen encouraged faculty not to focus strictly on sharing secular knowledge with students, however, but to remember to act as spiritual mentors as well, calling on them to point students towards the “true source of all knowledge and wisdom and service and power.”

He concluded the session by sharing his testimony of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. “They have been and always will be attentive to the needs of all they who study and serve others here and who go on learning and serving others over a lifetime and beyond,” said Worthen.

Bryce Nobles: Using the Humanities as a Catalyst for Innovation

PROVO, Utah—Bryce Nobles was in his exit interview for his mission in Stockholm, Sweden when his mission president’s wife, a former BYU guidance counselor, finally asked him the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Before his mission, Nobles was an economics major with a childhood dream of becoming a judge. After speaking with her, however, he changed his major to American studies.  Now Nobles is turning his humanities education into a successful business career.

Last November, Nobles started part-time at Qualtrics (a private research software company based in Provo that helps companies make better business decisions through the use of powerful insight tools, primarily in the areas of customer, employee, and market research) as a low-level account developer. Now he is working full-time on the enterprise team doing business development for top-tier companies like Fox and NBC. He accomplished this by being different.

“The humanities background really did a lot for me,” said Nobles. “It gets you really good at researching and writing. Those two skills in the business world are priceless. If you have them, it really makes a huge difference.”

Kristin Matthews – associate English professor, American studies coordinator and Nobles’ internship advisor – said that Nobles’ American studies background has provided him with a different perspective than his coworkers. “He’s taken something that people have looked at over and over again, and he came in and said, ‘Well, have you thought about it this way?’ It blew their minds,” she said.

In the book How to Get Any Job with Any Major, career guru Donald Asher lists eight key skills that make liberal arts majors valuable in any career:

1. Writing
2. Speaking
3. Foreign language and cross-cultural knowledge
4. Numeracy
5. Research and information retrieval
6. Analytical thinking
7. Effectiveness with ambiguity
8. The ability to learn and synthesize new ideas.

More and more companies are looking for these skills in potential employees instead of a strictly technical skill set.

Nobles explained that while accounting or business management majors follow very specific roles, humanities majors are much more versatile – in fact, American studies majors take classes from 15 different departments across campus. “How you describe yourself is how you limit yourself,” he said, and he believes the skills of humanities majors are limitless. This provides what Nobles refers to as “pivot ability,” the ability to adjust in the work field. Versatility alone, however, does not ensure success. Students must refine and practice these skills.

According to Nobles, there are three important steps humanities majors should take if planning to go into business: talk to professors and advisors, do internships early on and get involved with the business school clubs. In fact, a case study Nobles did with the Business Strategy Club led to his current position at Qualtrics.

“[An internship] is on-the-ground learning, and you are applying certain skills that you already have,” said Matthews. “You’re synthesizing new information, and you are contributing to something bigger. Internships help you amplify and practice the things you learn in your classes.” She added that internships are clarifying for students. Nobles, for example, did an internship with Judge Vernon F. Romney and worked in the marketing department at BYU Independent Study. He liked the creativity of business but was not fond of working in the court system, so he decided to switch paths.

While Nobles built up a strong résumé through his internship experiences, club commitments and other extracurricular activities, this was not enough. According to Matthews, humanities majors must be able to tell their story in the language of their desired field or industry.

Nobles took to social media to tell his story. He started a blog to detail the relationship between a humanities skill set and the business world, perfected his LinkedIn profile to develop his image as a business professional, and used Twitter to market himself. Now he describes his personal brand as “using the humanities skill set to thrive in the business world.”

Nobles plans to graduate from BYU in December, after which he hopes to thrive in a job where he can help other people develop and share the lessons he has learned. He would be happy to start sharing these lessons with anyone interested and can be contacted through his LinkedIn profile.

Success is just a matter of planning, executing, and reviewing according to Nobles. “If you can do those well, there’s no stopping; you can do anything you want,” he said.