[Stoves] Fuel and Forestry etc.

[Samer Abdelnour]

Otto, Paul, thanks for your comments, very helpful directions to follow up.


Dear Erin,

It might be helpful if you could explain your outrage. Some people have
been outraged once they realize how the lives and vulnerabilities of poor
displaced women and girls are relegated through the stoves-rape rhetoric.
Others have reacted to the suggestion that underlying racial/gendered
stereotypes have been key to mobilizing well-meaning people to a cause that
stoves can do little to address. It seems you are reacting to the very idea
that the conversation should even take place, which would be a first.

If you read the paper you will find that I have certainly done my homework.
The paper was certainly motivated by the disjuncture I witnessed in Darfur
between the vulnerabilities of displaced people and the claims NGOs (in
their marketing materials outside Sudan) promoted. The paper thus demands
accountability of the humanitarian industry to the claims they promote,
while insisting that the genuine vulnerabilities displaced peoples face
cannot be so easily disregarded. These issues are very close to my heart:
my parents were refugees displaced by violence, I've spent many months
living/volunteering in refugee camps in Beirut, and I've also spent over 2
years doing research in across Sudan.

Perhaps it might reassure you that a number of gender scholars (including
Sudanese) had reviewed drafts of the paper and have also been quite
supportive of its direction. It is about to be published in a recognized
scholarly journal, and the paper is already being included as required
reading in courses in North America, the UK, and Asia. The recent short
article has been widely shared, and I've had private encouragement from top
officials working in UN agencies and NGOs in Sudan, including Darfur, and
in New York, some of whom engaged stoves solely for its purported ability
to stop sexual violence.

With regards to your specific points about user needs (etc.): though design
and testing around user needs may be 'old news', it seems that efforts to
develop universal standards has resurrected this important issue as Paul
and Crispin (and others) note.

Warmly,
Samer
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