December 2015
This event, organised by the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) and chaired by Alya Khan, attracted nearly 150 people and ended with a vibrant question-and-answer session.
Susan Brison is a US philosophy professor who wrote the critically important book Aftermath: Violence and the Remaking of a Self and a more recent piece Everyday Atrocities and Ordinary Miracles: Or Why I (Still) Bear Witness to Sexual Violence (But Not Too Often). The book is an exploration of how she coped with rape, which included asking why philosophy has so little to say about sexual violence and having to rethink her understanding of the self. Her radical thinking informs the Woman and Child Abuse MA teaching in CWASU.
Liz Kelly, Director of the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) at London Met, is a professor of sexualised violence. She has been active in the field of violence against women and children for over 30 years. She is the author of Surviving Sexual Violence (1988), which established the concept of a "continuum of violence", and has also published over seventy book chapters and journal articles. CWASU has a national and international reputation for its research, training and consultancy work. The Unit has completed over sixty research and evaluation projects and are known for their work on making connections between forms of gender violence, and between violence against women and child protection. As special advisors to the British Council, CWASU undertakes considerable international work (in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America) providing consultancy and training on research and policy.
In 2000 she was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in the New Years Honours List for services combating violence against women and children, and in January 2005 was appointed to the Board of Commissioners of the Women's National Commission.