Impressions

My experiences in Peshawar and Salalah exposed me to the cultures of these regions on an intimate level through my living on the economy and in conjunction with natives of the region. My lack of separation from the locals made it possible to grasp issues facing these women both at home and abroad. My unmarried status coupled with my position as a professor afforded me a degree of leeway that most other local females didn’t have, yet my expatriate standing did not completely protect me from social and political tensions. Moreover, the countries in which I have researched educational and gender related issues are ones where women’s rights are contestable and variable. In Pakistan I was assigned to a local family in order to accomplish my work and to be seen as being “protected”, yet that had its own set of difficulties and challenges, as the male head of household had a different set of perceptions regarding what protection meant. In order for me to be “protected” I had to be accompanied by a male member of my guest family everywhere I went. My privacy and my independence were severely curtailed. This granted even greater insight into the ways in which children and women move or don’t move in certain Islamic cultures. In the Sultanate of Oman while women were afforded a greater degree of social movement than in Saudi Arabia, there was less opportunity for socializing due to the tribal constraints. In order to establish working relationships I first met with a bicultural student and her family and was then able to begin to study the culture more intimately. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia it took the combined efforts of my colleague Cate and her “Wasta” (influence) to get a short-term business visa for me as a single woman under 40. This is one example of what I meant by contestable and variable in that the law states I should have been unable to enter legally; however, due to my colleagues connections we were able to get a visa through the Ministry.

Trailer: Polygyny in Oman (2010-2011)
A documentary by Annemarie Profanter and Stephanie Ryan Cate in cooperation with Arda Nederveen.

The film was presented at the conference “Trends in Higher Education in the Muslim World: Film and Media Analysis” in October 2011 in Italy. The resonance was enormous: The Italian national TV made a short documentary about it and it was screened on TV as did the Netherlands national news. Here you can view a short trailor…

Glimpses of Research Project on investigation into expatriate acculturation into the host population of South Tyrol in collaboration with OEW’ project on sustainable intercultural integration in local communities

The faculty of Educations EAHPST project (Expatriate Acculturation into the Host Population of South Tyrol) seeks to establish a series of workshops tailored specifically for the small community in Franzensfeste, South Tyrol, which has a high population of immigrants. The EAHPST‘s primary aim is to assess the development of common goals and networks in pursuit of local projects and measure the impact of locals and immigrants responses to the OEW (local NGO) workshops. Another aim is the development of common projects, which should come from workshop community participants, and the development of networks between and within the three communities. The results of the study were published in the book “Zusammen und weniger getrennt / Insieme e meno divisi”. Here some impressions of the book presentation in May 2011 in which also Dr. Arno Kompatscher participated who later was elected governor of the province…

Intercultural Research at Home, 2010

Impressions of field research in Franzensfeste, Italy: Investigation into Expatriate Acculturation into the Host Population of South Tyrol

I invited my colleague Prof. Desmond Rice from Prince Mohammad bin Fahad University in Al-Khobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at unibz 01/2009 to give a presentation on educational issues in the Kingdom:

I invited Stephanie Ryan Cate from the University of Alabama Huntsville (USA) and Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University in Saudi Arabia to speak about women’s mental health issues directly relating to alcoholism and addiction in Saudi Arabia (10/2009):

My „lecturing adventureship“ in Peshawar, Pakistan (2004)

Radio Interview „Modern Slavery“ 03/09

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