Post Classifieds

Sunday lecture series: 'Beyond the Veil'

By Jessica Morris

On October 21, 2009

Pin It

A Sunday film series on campus exposes what life is like for women in Middle Eastern countries through documentaries made by women.

Beyond the Veil: Perspectives from the Muslim World is shown every Sunday at 7 p.m. in Cabot 085. "The films are about aspects of Islamic life, with the distinctive feature that the films are produced by women," said David Orrick, professor of criminal justice at Norwich University.

According to Judith Stallings-Ward, professor of Spanish at Norwich, the women who make the films are trained by an organization in New York City called Women Making Movies. "Their philosophy is that women are misrepresented and underrepresented in the media," she said. The women are trained how to use the film equipment and are sent back to their countries to tell their story.

The films are approximately one hour long followed by a discussion among the audience. "The university is a meeting of the minds and therefore a topic such as Islamic life at this point in time is of extraordinary value," Orrick said. "The films are not meant to change people's minds but to fill those minds up with more information."

According to Christine McCann, associate professor of history at Norwich and a member of the Board of Friends of Kreitzberg Libraries, it was Stallings-Ward, who discovered the films. "I ran across these films accidentally on a Web site," Stallings-Ward said. "The films are anywhere from $100 to $250 a piece."

Stallings-Ward approached the Board of Friends of Kreitzberg Libraries for financial support to purchase the movies for the university. According to Stallings-Ward the board was hesitant at first but ended up purchasing the whole series. The first half of the series is being shown this semester and the second half will be shown in the spring.

"We take a lot of things for granted on a day-to-day level. If we don't think about life outside of our own little circle here on campus, we forget the wide variety of human experience that is going on around us at the same time," McCann said. "I think it makes us better world citizens."

Maria Hernandez, 19, a junior criminal justice major from Fresno, Calif., is contracted with the United States Army. "I highly encourage every student, especially those that are going to be commissioning as officers into the United States military, to attend the series."

Hernandez is working to spread the word about the film series because she feels it is important for cadets to know more about the culture of the people they will soon be fighting against. "A lot of perceptions that I had are definitely different now that I've seen the films," Hernandez said.

"Our military is involved in a major campaign in the Middle East against extremists," said Mehdi Mohaghegh, professor of economics and finance at Norwich. "If our officers know the culture they can perform a lot better."

"Winning the war is not the issue here. Winning the heart and mind of the general public in the Middle East I believe is much more important," Mohaghegh said. Mohaghegh said the cultures of America and the Middle East are vastly different, and that the United States will have to be patient while dealing with countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

A schedule of the film topics can be found hanging up around campus and on the my.norwich.edu Web site. They will be available for checkout in Kreitzberg Library at the conclusion of the series for students to view at their convenience.