Mazurana, Dyan E.

(Dyan Mazurana)

PERSONAL: Female. Education: Earned Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Office—Alan Shawn Feinstein International Famine Center, Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, 126 Curtis St., Medford, MA 02155. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, MA, research fellow, 2001–2002, visiting scholar, 2003–2004; Tufts University, Alan Shawn Feinstein International Famine Center, Medford, MA, senior research fellow and research director of Gender, Youth, and Community Program, 2002–. Works with various governments and international agencies to inform their policy on upholding the rights of women affected by armed conflict.

WRITINGS:

NONFICTION

(With Susan R. McKay) Women and Peacebuilding, International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 1999.

Women, Peace and Security: Study of the United Nations Secretary-General As Pursuant Security Council Resolution 1325, United Nations (New York, NY), 2002.

(With Susan McKay) Where Are the Girls? Girls in Fighting Forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique; Their Lives during and after the War, International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Montreal, Quebec, Canada), 2004.

(With Elizabeth Stites and Neamat Nojumi) Human Security and Livelihoods of Rural Afghans, 2002–2003, Feinstein International Famine Center (Medford, MA), 2004.

(Editor, with Angela Raven-Roberts and Jane Parpart) Gender, Conflict, and Peacekeeping, Rowman & Littlefield (Lanham, MD), 2005.

Contributor to books, including Documenting Women's Rights Violations in Armed Conflict Situations, edited by Agnés Callamard, United Kingdom And International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development (London, England), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Dyan E. Mazurana's areas of expertise include peacekeeping, women's human rights, and children involved in armed conflict. She has worked as an educator and a consultant with governments and various agencies to address issues such as human-rights abuses against women and girls during wars and postwar periods. Her work has taken her to Africa, the Balkans, and Afghanistan. In the book Where Are the Girls? Girls Fighting Forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique; Their Lives during and after the War, Mazurana and coauthor Susan R. McKay present and analyze data regarding the use of children—particularly girls—in military forces. Studies show that in the period from 1995 to 2003, girls were used in government militias or armed opposition groups in fifty-five countries, and actually fought in armed conflicts in thirty-eight countries. One chapter focuses specifically on conflicts in Mozambique, Uganda, and Sierra Leone, while another examines the physical, emotional, and mental issues encountered by girls who fought in those three countries. The book concludes by suggesting ways to address the issues illuminated in the book. According to Shadia Abdel Rahim Mohammed in Ahfad Journal, the book is distinguished by "a good and clear style," and should raise awareness about the issues related to girls' involvement in armed conflict.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Ahfad Journal, June, 2004, Shadia Abdel Rahim Mohammed, review of Where Are the Girls? Girls Fighting Forces in Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique; Their Lives during and after the War, p. 77.

Choice, January, 2006, K. Staudt, review of Gender, Conflict, and Peacekeeping.

ONLINE

Alan Shawn Feinstein International Famine Center Web site, http://nutrition.tufts.edu/research/famine/ (January 21, 2006), biographical information about Dyan E. Mazurana.