The Women's Research Institute at Brigham Young University has announced its Film Series and Women's Studies Colloquium schedule for November.
Thursday, Nov. 2: "Bride Kidnapping in Kyrgyzstan," noon, 1161 Joseph F. Smith Building. This is the first film to document the custom of bride kidnapping, an ancient marriage tradition in Kyrgyzstan, a former part of the Soviet Union in Central Asia.
When a Kyrgyz man decides to marry, he often abducts the woman he has chosen. Typically, he and several friends hire a car, snatch her off the street, and take her to the groom's family home. A delegation is sent to her family, and she is held until someone arrives to determine whether they will accept the "proposal" and she will agree to marry her kidnapper.
Although bride kidnapping has been illegal in Kyrgyzstan since 1994, it is a law that is rarely enforced, and one in three rural ethnic Kyrgyz women have been forced into such marriages.
Thursday, Nov. 9: Women's Studies Colloquium, noon, 2110 JFSB. From the Department of Anthropology, Ruth Toulson will speak on "Teen Angst and the Ancestors: Teenage Girls, Their Mothers and the Battle for the Dead in Contemporary Singapore."
Toulson does research on Asian culture and history and came to BYU in August 2005 from the University of Cambridge, where she did work on her doctoral thesis.
She returned to Singapore to conduct more fieldwork and spent the summer in Beijing where she began a new research project on death in urban China. She then left Cambridge in August to come to BYU, where she has been teaching a variety of anthropology courses, including this semester's special topics course, "Complexities and the Cities."
Thursday, Nov. 16: "Four Little Girls," noon, 1161 JFSB. This film, directed by Spike Lee, recounts the people and events leading up to the one of the most despicable hate crimes of the civil rights movement, the bombing of the 16th Street Church in Birmingham, Ala. In that attack, four young black girls lost their lives and a nation was galvanized to push for equality and justice.
Thursday, Nov. 30: "Sisters in Law," noon, 1161 JFSB. Winner of the Prix Art et Essai at the Cannes Film Festival and screened to acclaim at more than 90 festivals around the world, Sisters in Law is the latest documentary from internationally renowned director Kim Longinotto.
In the little town of Kumba, Cameroon, there have been no convictions in spousal abuse cases in 17 years. But two women determined to change their community are making progress that could change the world. This fascinating, often hilarious documentary follows the work of State Prosecutor Vera Ngassa and Court President Beatrice Ntuba as they help women fight difficult cases of abuse, despite pressures from family and their community to remain silent.
For more information, contact the Women's Research Institute at (801) 422-4609.
Writer: Brooke Eddington
