ITHACA, N.Y. -- In 1999, the U.S. State Department allowed more than 4,000 Sudanese refugees into the country -- only 89 of these young orphaned war victims were girls. The disparity has both political and cultural origins, and few understand the complexities as well as Julia Duany, author of Making Peace and Nurturing Life: Memoir of an African Woman About a Journey of Struggle and Hope. Duany, a refugee who escaped from the violence in the Sudan in 1983, will deliver a talk titled "African Women's Voices: Effects of War on Sudanese Women" on Tuesday, Nov. 16, at 4:30 p.m. in Room 423 of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations Conference Center on the Cornell University campus. The talk is free and open to the public and a reception will follow.

Drawing on her experiences as a refugee and activist as well as her knowledge of Sudanese women's groups, Duany will discuss challenges to women's peace-building initiatives in the Sudan. She also will address social factors that affect women in the Sudan, including family life, religion, cultural and political complexities, and the role gender plays in her multicultural, war-ravaged country.

Duany, a research associate at Indiana University, focuses on gender and policy issues in education and social justice. Her publications include articles on the African refugee crisis, the Sudanese conflict and grassroots community responses to the violence, and the forced militarizing of African children. She has received many awards for her work with refugees and non-governmental organizations in Africa and elsewhere.

Duany's visit is part of a series titled "Gender, War, Violence, Peace and Displacement," organized by the program on Gender and Global Change at Cornell.

Cornell's co-sponsors for Duany's visit include the Institute for African Development (IAD) and the Peace Studies Program, the Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Program,

and the Center for Religion, Ethics, and Social Policy. For more information, contact Jackie Sayegh, IAD program coordinator, at (607) 255-6849.