Feb 22, 2023

Ethical Encounters

Transnational Feminism, Human Rights, and War Cinema in Bangladesh

Elora Halim Chowdhury

Hosted by Rine Vieth

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Summary

An exploration of the intersection of feminism, human rights, and memory, Ethical Encounters: Transnational Feminism, Human Rights, and War Cinema in Bangladesh (Temple University Press, 2022) examines contemporary, woman-centered Muktijuddho cinema--features and documentaries that focus on the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971. Elora Chowdhury shows how these films imagine, disrupt, and reinscribe a gendered nationalist landscape of trauma, freedom, and justice. She analyzes the Bangladeshi feminist films Meherjaan, Guerilla, and Itihaash Konna, as well as socially engaged films by activist-filmmakers including Rising Silence, Bish Kanta, Jonmo Shathi, and Shadhinota, to show how war films of Bangladesh can conjure a global cinematic imagination for the advancement of human rights. Focusing on women-centric films, and steeped in Black and transnational feminist critiques, Chowdhury engages shared histories, experiences, and identities in the region to encourage transnational solidarity among women across borders. Ethical Encounters reveals how Bangladeshi national cinema can foster a much-needed dialogue among ordinary citizens who have grown up with the legacy of liberty and violence of nationalist and anti-colonial struggles.

Dr. Elora Halim Chowdhury is a Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, College of Liberal Arts, at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, as well as an Affiliate Faculty of the Asian Studies Department; the Asian American Studies Program; the Cinema Studies Program; and the Department of Conflict Resolution, Human Security and Global Governance. She is also an Affiliated Researcher, Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights, and the Series Editor for the Dissident Feminisms Series at the University of Illinois Press.

Dr. Rine Vieth is a researcher studying how the UK Immigration and Asylum tribunals consider claims of belief, how claims of religious belief are evidenced, and the role of faith communities in asylum-seeker support.

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Rine Vieth

Dr. Rine Vieth is an incoming FRQSC Postdoctoral Fellow, where they will be studying how anti-gender mobilization shapes migration policy, particularly in regards to asylum determinations. They hold a PhD in Anthropology at McGill University, a MSc in Social Anthropology from the LSE, and a MA in Islamic Law from SOAS.

Their research interests include state governance, human rights, bureaucracy, and religion, with a particular emphasis on how people understand and experience law. When not making their way through a pile of policy documents or coding data, they enjoy gardening on their Montréal balcony.

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