Guest activist teaches uses of social media in grassroots movements

Twenty-three students will explore social media’s impact on grassroots movements with OU Women’s and Gender Studies activist-in-residence Mona Eltahawy in the program’s exclusive class with this guest professor and award-winning journalist.

Eltahawy, who also is a nationally recognized blogger, is leading a three-weekend course, Women and New Media in the Middle East, beginning this afternoon.

This year’s activist-in-residence program will allow students the opportunity to learn from Eltahawy’s use of social media and blogs in terms of the Muslim American experience, said Stephanie Heck, coordinator for the Women’s and Gender Studies Center for Social Justice.

Heck said students endorsed Eltahawy for the activist in residence position after she spoke at OU in October 2009 for the Women in World Politics Dream Course.

“She has a unique way of getting her point across without being confrontational or offensive,” Heck said. “That really influenced our decision to bring her back.”

Eltahawy’s writing has been featured in The Washington Post and newspapers in Qatar, Israel and Denmark.

She recently appeared on CNN to discuss the debate over the construction of a mosque near Ground Zero.

The class convenes for the first time from 6 to 10 p.m. tonight.

Students will return Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. The class takes place the last three weekends of September.