July 9, 2014
by Venus Welch-White
Today was a jam packed, fun filled day with a variety of topics, discussion and dialogue. Our morning got kicked off with a presentation about education among women within rural and urban communities in the US. Interestingly, there weren’t as many differences as one might perceive.
Next we had speakers from Mexico discuss gender theory, gender equity and feminism. Meaningful and valuable dialogue followed both presentations. It challenged us to evaluate our own ideals about gender theory and how those translate to culture and policy implications in our home countries.
Our day progressed to lectures about indigenous and minorities in rural areas. We learned about the challenges facing small resource farmers in the Alabama Black Belt region and the Alaska natives in the United States. We also gained insight about limitations of policy of indigenous people in Mexico and Senegal (Africa).
We moved on to an interactive session about migration, and the evaluation of theories surrounding why people migrate. Most of the ICRPS participants have migrated from urban to rural or rural to urban….who would of thought?
Pictures@ Mikael Akimowicz