The Rural Woman
Zone - An intersection of place, gender, and
public memory.

Rural
Woman Blog
Like
us on Facebook
Follow
us on Twitter
About Rural Womyn
Zone, from Rural Literacies by Kim Donehower B.A. Ph.D,
Charlotte Hogg B.A. M.A. Ph.D., and Eileen E.
Schell B.A. M.A. Ph.D.
The
Rural Womyn Zone (RWZ) is a technological
network that seeks to critically educate rural
women. The RWZ describes itself as a
“grass-roots international network of rural
women which started using the Internet in 1997
to provide information, outreach, support and a
networking base for rural women and their
nonprofit organizations and grass roots
activities." The RWZ also seeks to “publish news
and information for rural women and by rural
women” and help rural women utilize technology,
make connections with other rural women, and
access news and other resources. Through
providing access to resources that would take
rural women hours to amass on their own, the RWZ
demonstrates one way technology can endorse and
support literacy and education can be a
critical, public pedagogy of place. Despite the
expense and unavailability of Internet
technology, particularly high-speed access, for
some rural citizens, the site explains its
intention as an on-line space to gather:
One
challenge faced by scholars involves how to
avoid colonizing the voices of rural women, and
how instead to seriously face and understand the
different contexts of women’s lives. . .
.Feminist theorists. . .remain caught in a bind.
We call for marginalized groups of women to
enable subjects to speak for themselves, but we
realize that the academic and literary worlds
are closed or alien to many of these women.
(Carolyn Sachs)
The
RWZ stands out from other examples in that it
begins from the assumption that dominant
ideologies in mainstream rural culture and the
United States more broadly are to be questioned
and examined: it begins from a position of
decolonization . . .
.
.the RWZ remains inclusive to those who may not
hold the same ideologies: “You do not have to
identify with the women’s movement or with
feminism in order to belong to this group. But
we assume the validity of the women’s movement
and explore the gap between feminism and rural
women’s experience.”
Its
decolonization goals are also clear on the home
page in its emphasis on political action,
featuring news articles . . .such as. . . .“It’s a Long, Long Way to
Towanda, Kansas: The Price of Neglecting Rural
America.”
Violence
Against Rural Women
The violence against rural women section is
still online but is no longer being updated.
For frequently updated information on domestic
violence, sexual assault and gender-based
violence issues, see the SHARE
Inc. blog and Women's
Justice Center/Centro de Justicia Para Mujeres
(English and Spanish).
Rural
Woman's Breast Cancer Journal
One woman's experience
with diagnosis, treatment and surviving in a
rural area.
Towanda
Weather
Rural Woman
Zone Archives Project - Note: Not all
graphics are available in archives and not all
links will work.
February
2001
April
2001
Women'space
article 2001
May
2001
July
2001
September
2001
November
2001
March
2002
September
2002
February
2003
July
2003
December
2003
March
2004
May
2004

Copyright Rural Womyn
Zone 2012 All Rights Reserved
|