Birkbeck events - Gender and DIY in New Zealand and Gay Rights in Uganda

Two events at Birkbeck of interest
1. College Gender Group Seminar - Rosie Cox, Materialising Gender: Men, women and home improvement in New Zealand

2. Gay Rights in Uganda


1 .College Gender Group Seminar

Weds, 28 April 2010; 12.30-2.00, Venue: 253 Malet Street, Birkbeck

Rosie Cox (Dept of Geography, Environment and Development Studies)
Materialising Gender: Men, women and home improvement in New Zealand

DIY is a booming activity in New Zealand. Households spend over NZ$1 billion at DIY stores each year and there are thought to be more ‘DIYers’ per head of the population in NZ than there are in any other country in the Western world. But what are people doing when they do-it-themselves? This paper discusses the ways that gender and national identities are made and remade as people work (or choose not to work) on their homes. It traces the relationship between materials used for home repairs, the skills and knowledges needed to use them and the (re)production of gendered identities. It argues that by focusing on routine and mundane activities in the home, we can reveal the intertwining of social history and the material environment in the continual negotiation and contestation of gendered identities.

Contact: Heike Bauer (h.bauer@bbk.ac.uk)

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2. GAY RIGHTS IN UGANDA

A Discussion with David Kato, Advocacy/Litigation officer at Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG)

7 - 9pm Thursday 18 March 2010
Birkbeck Cinema, 43 Gordon Square, London WC1H OPD

Hosted by Birkbeck School of Law

In September 2009, an Anti-Homosexuality Bill was introduced in the Ugandan Parliament and is currently under debate. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which builds directly on the British colonial legacy of anti-sodomy laws, proposes to extend the criminalisation and punishment of same-sex relations and creates significant barriers for HIV/AIDS prevention and health policy. David Kato is among many activists who have been fighting against the bill since it was introduced.

Introduction by Sokari Ekine - "Criminalisation of LGBT in Sub-Saharan Africa: Cases and responses"
Lecture by David Kato - "A matter of life and death: the struggle for Ugandan gay rights"
Followed by a Q&A Session.

Spaces are limited, so please RSVP to: s.lamble@bbk.ac.uk