Artsy: Lessons from the Afghan Women Who Weave Modern War into an Ancient Tradition. “Despite decades of war, ancient pattern techniques that can take months or years to complete are still passed from mother to daughter. Testimony from the makers of these carpets is difficult to obtain, as many of these works remain unattributed, and the female weavers lack easy access to modes of international communication. But the largest online archive of Afghan war rugs, maintained by New York–based artist Kevin Sudeith, offers information and an online store. Still, the weavers’ authorship is often lost when these works go to market, yet their masterful compositions reveal a dark humor and complex commentary on contemporary life.” If you decide to visit the Web site, go to the “Index of Rugs” to browse the various styles.
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New Yorker: The Challenge of Preserving the Historical Record of #MeToo
New Yorker: The Challenge of Preserving the Historical Record of #MeToo. “Around the height of the #MeToo revelations, in the fall of 2017, I interviewed an archivist at a prominent research library for a piece about social-media preservation. It quickly became apparent that he knew less about the subject than I did; he saved Facebook posts by painstakingly copying and pasting them into Word, comment by comment, and manually pressing print. The longer we spoke, the more visibly annoyed he grew by my questions, to which he offered no answers.”
The Guardian: China database lists ‘breedready’ status of 1.8 million women
The Guardian: China database lists ‘breedready’ status of 1.8 million women. “An open database in China contains the personal information of more than 1.8 million women, including their phone numbers, addresses, and something called ‘BreedReady’ status, according to a researcher.”
Billings Gazette: When government fails, indigenous women take their search for missing loved ones online
Billings Gazette: When government fails, indigenous women take their search for missing loved ones online. “Indigenous people make up 26 percent of Montana’s missing persons cases, but only 6.7 percent of the state’s population. That’s nearly 300 Native Americans reported missing in Montana in 2018 alone, according to the State Department of Justice. And though most eventually turn up, at the end of year when the still missing are tallied, Native Americans remain more than a quarter of Montana’s unfound.”
Quartz: The Museum of Women’s History in Zambia is changing how a whole country sees itself
New-to-me, from Quartz: The Museum of Women’s History in Zambia is changing how a whole country sees itself. “The Museum of Women’s History in Zambia has no physical space and yet it is already changing the narrative of the role of women in Zambia. Since 2016, its founders Samba Yonga and Mulenga Kapwepwe have been collecting artefacts that will eventually form part of the permanent exhibition that will be housed on the second floor of the Lusaka National Museum. Their collection already includes a digital archive of 5,000 pieces of audio from the colonial and post-colonial period and quilts sewn in the 1940s that record the entry of Europeans into southern Zambia.” Unfortunately the site has not quite launched, but you can sign up for notification.
Forbes: New $25 Million Initiative Aims To Provide Young Women With Contemporary STEM Role Models
Forbes: New $25 Million Initiative Aims To Provide Young Women With Contemporary STEM Role Models. “IF/THEN aims to inspire young women to enter the STEM fields by highlighting the achievements of modern female role models in STEM. It will do so by introducing female role models into mainstream culture by illuminating their achievements through media by posting content on YouTube, on cable television shows such as Bravo’s Project Runway, as well as introducing weekly television series which will showcase how STEM works behind the scenes and how it many of our day-to-day processes are made possible by advances in the STEM disciplines.”
CNET: Thanks to Instagram and YouTube, Muslim women are owning modest fashion
CNET: Thanks to Instagram and YouTube, Muslim women are owning modest fashion. “Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube have pushed modest fashion — a term used to describe less-revealing clothing — into mainstream consciousness. It’s a market looking to reap the benefits of Muslims’ spending power on clothing, which is expected to increase from $270 billion in 2017 to $361 billion by 2023, according to the State of the Global Islamic Economy.”
