Jan Haaken

Accompanied by the documentary DVD, Diamonds, Guns, and Rice: Sierra Leone and the Women’s Peace Movement

What can the rest of the world do to help a war torn country? Every day in the headlines, on the home front, and around the world, we face the issue of how war affects people. Speaking Out leads this important discussion by asking the question: Why war?

Speaking Out addresses the effects of war on gender and reparation in a five-part, interactive curriculum that is adaptable for differing educational levels, from secondary schooling to college. Based on the documentary Diamonds, Guns, and Rice, this curriculum bridges the local and the global, placing gripping personal stories in an international landscape and highlighting the creative capacities that survive war. The relevance of such lessons in today’s world proves invaluable as we ask the questions: Who are the victims of war? What are the effects of war? How are these effects overcome?

Speaking Out grew from an international peace project addressing issues of war from the personal effects of combat to institutional factors shaping armed conflicts. Stories, games, and role-playing are interwoven with lessons on colonialism, West African agricultural economy, international banking, diamond and arms trades, and peace-building projects. A copy of Diamonds, Guns, and Rice accompanies this book, providing the reader with a visual and deeply moving journey into these women’s lives.

For more information: oligan.speakingout@pdx.edu

ISBN: 978-1-932010-05-3
8 ½” x 11″, softcover with DVD
193 pages
$19.95

About the Author

Jan Haaken

Jan Haaken has been Professor of Clinical Psychology at Portland State University for the past ten years. Her course specialties, Psychology of Women and Ethnographic Film Making, combine Haaken’s interest in psychology, social justice, feminist and psychoanalytic cultural studies. Her three previous publications, Speaking Out: Women, War and the Global Economy, Pillars of Salt: Gender, Memory and the Perils of Looking Back, and Scarves of Many Colors: Muslim Women and the Veil—have all received critical acclaim and are currently in use as university curriculum guides nation-wide.

Praise

Speaking Out: Women, War, and the Global Economy draws a map for students, identifying the economic and political grid in which violence unfolds at the local level. I am deeply grateful to Jan Haaken and her co-authors for bringing into clear focus the psycho–social impact of wars in Africa, with attention to our own situation in Sierra Leone.
— Maude Peacock, Sierra Leone Women’s Forum, Consultant to Truth and Reconciliation Commission

This is a wonderful resource of the classroom…correctly attuned to the nuances of gender, culture, class, and power in Sierra Leone and beyond. It is precisely what teachers need when discussing Africa with their students.
— Rona E. Peligal, Ph.D., Human Rights Watch