Anwen Williams (she/her) is a sophomore in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, studying Regional and Comparative Studies with a focus on China-Africa relations. She is from Lawrence, Kansas! Anwen is interested in cybersecurity, Chinese media presence in the Global South, and migration and refugee crises in Africa. At Georgetown, she is involved with the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, Delta Phi Epsilon Professional Foreign-Service Sorority, Blue & Gray Tour Guide Society, and Hoyas for Human Rights. She plans to pursue a career focused on international human rights, with a focus on digital security and gender equality.
Project: Women in Conflict: Perceptions of Gender in the Dadaab Refugee Camp
Women in Conflict: Perceptions of Gender in the Dadaab Refugee Camp will explore how life in refugee camps shift the social structures that shape gender norms, family dynamics, and understandings of female agency. For the Somali generation growing up in Dadaab, Kenya, the presence of gender-based violence, changes in social, familial, and religious expectations, and implications of class and resource access will shape how they view traditional masculinity. Through a trauma-informed mixed methodology and intersectional approach, this project explores: psychological reports on trauma, masculinity, and the development of gender perceptions; conflict studies on social structures within refugee camps, life on the ground in Dadaab, and the implications of conflict on families; and women-and-gender-based work on the patriarchal bargain, women in conflict, and masculinity in Somalian communities. Whether women are gaining increased autonomy or facing a new and rigid social hierarchy, it is critical to understand how this non-traditional, unstable environment affects perceptions of female gender.