News Releases

UWI Students speak at Fourth People’s Summit: Student Group to present on Eco-Feminist Ideology

For Release Upon Receipt - April 16, 2009

St. Augustine


A group of students from The University of the West Indies (UWI) has been invited to deliver a presentation on Eco-Feminist Ideology at the Fourth People’s Summit. The student group, known as Consciousness Raising, will coordinate a workshop on how a sustainable livelihood can assist with managing an economic crisis, particularly how women can contribute to preserving the environment.

Themed “Understanding the Woman's Role in a Sustainable Environment”, the workshop is coordinated by Consciousness Raising, in collaboration with Akilah Jaramoji and the Fondes Amandes Community Re-Forestation project. Consciousness Raising has been actively addressing issues such as domestic violence, crime and student participation in the wider community.

The workshop is geared primarily towards women particularly housewives but is not exclusively for women. It will take place on Thursday 17th April from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the UWI Sport and Physical Education Centre (SPEC) St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Presenters will include Professor Jane Parpart, Visiting Professor and Graduate Coordinator, Centre for Gender and Development Studies, UWI St. Augustine; Dr. David Dolly, Lecturer, Agricultural Economics and Extension, UWI St. Augustine; Gillian Goddard, former owner of Sun Eaters, an organic grocery now turned co-op; Michael Parris, Director of Sustainability First Technical Services; and Akilah Jaramogi, Managing Director of the Fondes Amandes Community Reforestation Project.

Presenters will posit that the environmental problems we are facing as a nation cannot be solved without active participation of women, and that educating women on their role in environmental management and preservation is one part of addressing the larger issue of environmental management.

The workshop aims to enable participants to understand organic gardening, permaculture, craft & cottage industry, environmental conservation, green entrepreneurship, eco-feminist ideology (how environmental destruction is linked to violence against women) and other gender issues in relation to the environment. The organizers of the workshop hope that participants will better understand how to market green collectives, and will learn strategies for recycling, reusing and reducing waste within their home and their communities. End

ABOUT UWIOver the last six decades, The University of the West Indies (UWI) has evolved from a fledgling college in Jamaica with 33 students to a full-fledged University with over 40,000 students. Today, UWI is the largest and most longstanding higher education provider in the English-speaking Caribbean, with main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and Centres in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Christopher (St Kitts) & Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines. UWI recently launched its Open Campus, a virtual campus with over 50 physical site locations across the region, serving over 20 countries in the English-speaking Caribbean. UWI is an international university with faculty and students from over 40 countries and collaborative links with over 60 universities around the world. Through its seven Faculties, UWI offers undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Pure & Applied Sciences, Science and Agriculture, and Social Sciences.

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