Join us for our next event on March 31st:

Quest for Honor
By Mary Ann Smothers Bruni

Playing with “Women Under Siege” by Elizabeth Warnock Fernea, posthumously honored University of Texas professor emeritus of Middle Eastern Studies and comparative literature.

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010
Film begins at 7:00 pm, panel to follow
Free to the public

About the film
The alarming rise in “honor killing,” the heinous act of men killing daughters, sisters, and wives who threaten “family honor,” endangers tens of thousands of women in Iraq, Turkey, Jordan and adjoining countries.

Global communication through satellite television, Internet, and cell phones has raised the expectations of young Middle Eastern women, who now are not content to marry a much older relative their father might chooses and live a life of servitude. While young women respond to new ideas from cyber pals in Los Angeles or episodes of popular Western sit-coms, their fathers and brothers demand strict tribal justice for their acts. Particularly in rural areas women have been killed simply for having unfamiliar phone numbers on their cell phones or speaking to men who are not relatives.

Activist women, journalists, and lawmen of the Kurdistan Regional Government (the KRG) join forces to eradicate honor killing and redefine “honor.”

A panel following the film will discuss Quest for Honor with:

Mary Ann Smothers Bruni – director, Quest for Honor
Tarek Elariss – Asst. Prof of Middle Easter Studies, University of Texas
Hina Azam – Asst. Prof of Middle Easter Studies, University of Texas
Moderated by Khotan Harmon – host of the KOOP 91.7 radio show "Idea Lounge"

Location:
Studio 4D – 4th floor of the CMB Building on the UT Campus,
corner of Guadalupe and Dean Keaton.