Dr. Anahid Matossian, "Syria and Ukraine: A Comparative WPS Lens"

NOTE: this episode contains explicit content due to the nature of discussing vulnerable populations exploited during wars and conflict.

Dr. Anahid Matossian, subject matter expert for Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) studies at Marine Corps University, joins the #BruteCast to discuss the ongoing invasion of #Ukraine from a WPS perspective in the context of her extensive experience working on similar issues - the different roles women play during conflict, post-conflict experiences, and more - within the Syrian conflict.

Prior to serving as the WPS subject matter expert, Dr. Matossian worked as a Social Scientist with the Center for Advanced Operational Culture Learning (CAOCL)'s team Translational Research Group (TRG). She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology in May 2021 from the University of Kentucky, M.S. in Anthropology from Purdue University, and B.A. in Anthropology and Arabic, Armenian, Persian, Turkish, and Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan. She has 10 years of experience conducting ethnographic research with displaced women from Syria and Turkey in places from Los Angeles to Yerevan, Armenia, Berlin, and Istanbul. Originally from Michigan, Dr. Matossian grew up hearing oral history accounts from relatives about forced displacement and survival, which sparked her interest at an early age to capture and amplify these narratives for diverse audiences. Her research focuses on gender, migration, conflict, and political anthropology, and regionally on the Middle East (Syria) and South Caucasus (Armenia). She is pleased to join the MCU team and combine experiences in the field working with Syrian refugee women and her current work on Marine Corps professional military education.

We discussed several humanitarian aid groups, which you can learn about below:
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/
International Committee of the Red Cross: https://www.icrc.org/en
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: https://www.ifrc.org/

We also discussed the music video for the song "Stefania" by the Ukrainian group "Kalush Orchestra:" https://youtu.be/Z8Z51no1TD0

Intro/outro music is "Evolution" from BenSound.com (https://www.bensound.com)

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