Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

[oslonor]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

You are in wrong!

My advice for you, (Oslonor)

Open a Azeri channel on TV. Listen it after that open Iran channel and Turkish channel... Which one are same with Azerians language, decide !

I can understand 99% azerian language because it is a kind of Turkish

Also Anatolian Turks/Turkey Turks ınclude (nearly) %7 Crimean Tatars %17 Azerians %2 Ahiskia %2 Nogays %57 Turkmens and 15% is other Turkic origins.


And I am Turkmen origin,
In Turkish, All the Turkic origins are called Turk, according to it I am a Turk

It is not clear what you mean? wrong about what??? Azeri in Iran and Azeri in the Republic are both turks. You are not definitely a turkmen from North East Iran. Azeris in Iraq and Turkey are called Turkmen. But those are not really turkmen. The real turkmens are on the east side of caspian sea.

[KarotheGreat]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

You sound like an Azeri From Iran despite your name. I represent the Persians and we do not know any Persian Azeris. Similar to say "Russian Azeris". Russians or Persians have nothing to do with Azeris. Azeri and Iranians are the same people.

Both Azeris in the Republic of Azerbaijan and in Iran are Dinaric Alpine in terms of physical anthropology. They speak the same language and have the same culture. So both are Azeris and you can not just make some stories and deny it.

Whatever the name of the country Iran, the Persian ethnicity exist in Iran and has nothing to do with the name of the country. Persians are different people from Azeri Turks. You are claiming that if the name of the country changes then Azeri turks and Persians become the same people!!!!!

You represent the persians but you're from LA lol. Please stop you're too funny. And were did I claime that azeris and Persians are the same people. But there are the Iranian people or also know as the Aryan people Persians, kurds, Afgans are all part of it. Go and learn a little bit history before you talk xxxx and please talk with people from Iran you'll learn more that way.

[oslonor]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

You represent the persians but you're from LA lol. Please stop you're too funny. And were did I claime that azeris and Persians are the same people. But there are the Iranian people or also know as the Aryan people Persians, kurds, Afgans are all part of it. Go and learn a little bit history before you talk xxxx and please talk with people from Iran you'll learn more that way.

Mr. Azeri: Persians live in LA too!!!!! I will post for you how Azeris are actually are a relatives of xxxs. They were neighbors of Khazar xxxs. If anybody is related to xxxs it is you. There are no Iranian people. The natives of Iran have their own names and they do not need your "Iranian People". The only Iranians we know aer azeri turks. They are pure Iranians. Your game with "Iranian" is over. You are back to Azeri Turks.

[KarotheGreat]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

Mr. Azeri: Persians live in LA too!!!!! I will post for you how Azeris are actually are a relatives of xxxs. They were neighbors of Khazar xxxs. If anybody is related to xxxs it is you. There are no Iranian people. The natives of Iran have their own names and they do not need your "Iranian People". The only Iranians we know aer azeri turks. They are pure Iranians. Your game with "Iranian" is over. You are back to Azeri Turks.

Ok only you are right the rest of the world is wrong even people from Iran who I know. And I thought your wife was a Persian not you or whats the deal.

[jgk3]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

seriously, what is it oslonor, your wife doesn't know English?

[Kanki]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

It is not clear what you mean? wrong about what??? Azeri in Iran and Azeri in the Republic are both turks. You are not definitely a turkmen from North East Iran. Azeris in Iraq and Turkey are called Turkmen. But those are not really turkmen. The real turkmens are on the east side of caspian sea.

Anthropology

The land that now forms the nation of Turkey (Anatolia) has seen many different civilizations. The Turkic speaking people arrived there from Central Asia and successfully spread throughout the land. Turkish eventually became the dominant language, replacing the Indo-European languages which were present earlier. Turks are, as the authors state, "the only major group in the region that speak a language which originated from a great geographic distance (probably in the Altaic region)." The pre-existing people in Anatolia, however, did not physically disappear. Genetic studies show that the majority became part of the new Turkish population. The genetic constitution of modern-day Turks is much closer to their nearest geographic neighbors than to the Turkic-speaking populations that still dwell in Central Asia. The authors interpret this to mean that "The Turkish language was imposed on a predominantly Indo-European-speaking population" and "The number of Turkish invaders was probably rather small and was genetically diluted by the large number of aborigines".[8]

However, genetic studies vary on the percentage of Turkic genes in Turkey. For example it is reported in a recent academic paper titled "DNA Diversity and Population Admixture in Anatolia" from the Universita` di Bologna, Bologna, Italy that:
“ "The most reliable estimates suggest roughly 30% Central Asian admixture for both mitochondrial and Ychromosome loci (in Anatolia-Turkey). That (admittedly approximate) figure is compatible both with a substantial immigration accompanying the arrival of the Turkmen armies (which is not historically documented), and with continuous gene flow from Asia into Anatolia, at a rate of 1% for 40 generations." [2] ”

Furthermore another recent study from the University of Chicago has shown that:
“ "The present results show that sequences that were found in the mtDNA pool of Turkey were also found in the Turkic central Asian peoples, implying that ancestors of these Central Asians may have brought the Asian mtDNA sequences to Anatolia." [3] ”

It is evident from these papers that those recent conquests and migrations also lasted steadily and for a long period of time, in fact for 40 generations.[2]

Turcoman & Turkmen
The terms "Turkmen" and "Turcoman" were often used as a designation for the Muslim-Oghuz Turks (Azerbaijanis, Turks of Turkey, Central Asian Turks) in periods of history although other Turkic factions described as Turks (Kumans, Khazars, Uyghurs, etc), and the ethnic name that the modern Turkmens of Central Asia use to designate their nationality was formed later.

Although a term most commonly used for the Oghuz of Central Asia, the name "Turkmen" or "Turcoman" once applied to Azerbaijanis and the Turks of Turkey as well, distinguishing between other Turks and non-Muslim Turks. Some western books which were written prior to the modern age use the terms "Turcoman" for the descendants of the Oghuz Turks who were not from the Turkmen nationality of Central Asia, which is one of the branches of the Oghuz.

For example, it is written in many sources prior to the modern age that the largest component of the population of Azerbaijan is composed of "Turcoman tribes". The "Turkmen" reference in history books which is often used for Azerbaijanis and Turks of Turkey simply means "Muslim Turk" or "Muslim western Turk" which means Oghuz Turk.

In Turkey the word Turkmen refers to nomadic Turkish tribes (all Muslims) some of whom still continue this lifestyle.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica the name Turkmen is a synonym of Oghuz which includes all the Turkish (Turkic) population who live to the southwest of Central Asia:

* Turkey
* Azerbaijan
* Iran
* Turkmenistan
* in other countries:
o Afghanistan
o Iraq, Syria and other Arab countries
o Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Serbia, Moldova and the (Former Yugoslav) Republic of Macedonia.

The Turkish historian Yılmaz Öztuna presents almost the same definition to the name Turkmen. He labels the Turkmen Oghuz or western Turkish populations as:

* Ottomans
* Azerbaijan
* Turkmen (Turkmenistan)

Oghuz Turk dynasties

* Seljuks
* White Sheep Turcomans
* Black Sheep Turcomans
* Ottomans
* Afsharids
* Qajars
* Artuqids

Traditional tribal organization

B-ozoklar (Grey Arrows)

* Kayı [10] (founders of the Ottoman dynasty)
* Bayat
* Alkaevli
* Karaevli
* Yazır
* Döger
* Dodurga
* Yaparlı
* Afshar
* Kızık
* Begdili ( THIS MINE )
* Kargın

Üçoklar (Three Arrows)

* Bayındır (founders of the Ak Koyunlu dynasty)
* Peçene
* Çavuldur
* Çepni
* Salur (founders of the Karamanoğlu dynasty and Salgurlular State in Iraq)
* Eymür
* Alayuntlu
* Yüregir
* İgdir
* Büğdüz
* Yıva
* Kınık (founders of the Seljuk Empire) [11]

Origins

In 178-177 BC, the Xiongnu shan-yü Mao-tun subdued a people called Hu-chieh, west of Wu-sun. The early pronunciation of this transliteration suggests that they were Oghur/Oghuz.[5]

Their history as kings, statesmen, warriors, as well as an enormous tribal union and large communal branch begins in the pre-Islamic period, yet their achievements and progression in the centuries after the arrival of Islam have left their mark on history and civilization.

The original homeland of the Oghuz, like other Turks, was the Ural-Altay region of Central Asia known as Turkestan or Turan, which has been the domain of Turkic peoples since antiquity. Although their mass-migrations from Central Asia occurred from the 9th century onwards, they were present in areas west of the Caspian Sea centuries prior, although smaller in numbers and perhaps living with other Turks.[citation needed] For example, the Book of Dede Korkut, the historical epic of the Oghuz Turks, was written in Central Asia at least from the ninth and tenth centuries.[6]

According to many historians, the usage of the word "Oghuz" is dated back to the advent of the Huns (220 BC). The title of "Oghuz" (Oguz Khan) was given to Mau-Tun[citation needed], the founder of the Hun Empire, which is often considered the first Turkic political entity in Central Asia.

Also in the 2nd century BC, a Turkic tribe called O-kut or Wuqi 呼揭, 呼得, 乌揭, 乌护 who were described as a western hostility of Huns (referred to in Chinese sources, Shiji, 110 and Suishu, 84) were mentioned in the area of Irtysh River, in present-day Lake Zaysan. It must be noted that the Greek sources used the name Oufi (or Ouvvi) to describe the Oghuz Turks, a name they had also used to describe the Huns centuries earlier.[citation needed]

A number of tribal groupings bearing the name Oghuz, often with a numeral representing the number of united tribes in the union are noted.

The mention of the "six Oghuz tribal union" in the Turkic Orhun inscriptions (6th century) pertains to the unification of the six Turkic tribes which became known as the Oghuz. This was the first written reference to Oghuz, and was dated to the period of the Göktürk empire. The Oghuz community gradually grew larger, uniting more Turkic tribes prior and during the Göktürk establishment.[7]

Prior to the Göktürk state, there are references to the Sekiz-Oghuz ("eight-Oghuz") and the Dokuz-Oghuz ("nine-Oghuz") union. The Oghuz Turks under Sekiz-Oghuz and the Dokuz-Oghuz state formations ruled different areas in the vicinity of the Altay mountains. During the establishment of the Göktürk state, Oghuz tribes inhabited the Altay mountain region and also lived in northeastern areas of the Altay mountains along the Tula River. They were also present as a community near the Barlik River in present-day northern Mongolia.

Their main homeland and domain in the ensuing centuries was the area of Transoxiana, in western Turkestan.

This land became known as the "Oghuz steppe" which is an area between the Caspian and Aral Seas. Ibn al-Athir, an Arab historian, declared that the Oghuz Turks had come to Transoxiana in the period of the caliph Al-Mahdi in the years between 775 and 785. In the period of the Abbasid caliph Al-Ma'mun (813 – 833), the name Oghuz starts to appear in the works of Islamic writers. By 780, the eastern parts of the Syr Darya were ruled by the Karluk Turks and the western region (Oghuz steppe) was ruled by the Oghuz Turks.

1. ^ Olson, James Stuart. "An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires, pg. 647: "... the medieval Oghuz tribes were the direct ancestors of the Turkmen, the Seljuks, the Ottoman Turks and the Ottomans' descendants, the Anatolian Turks."
2. ^ a b c American Journal Of Physical Anthropology 115:144–156 (2001) - "DNA Diversity and Population Admixture in Anatolia". web link
3. ^ a b University of Chicago Journals - "Trading Genes along the Silk Road: mtDNA Sequences and the Origin of Central Asian Populations". page 10
4. ^ Genome News Network - "Ancient DNA Tells Tales from the Grave". web link
5. ^ Laszlo Torday , Mounted Archers: The Beginnings of Central Asian History, pp. 220-21, 1997, The Durham Academic Press
6. ^ Lewis, Geoffrey (Ed.) (1974). The Book of Dede Korkut. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
7. ^ Encyclopaedia Britannica Online - Oguz
8. ^ Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca; Menozzi, Paolo & Piazza, Alberto (1994), The History and Geography of Human Genes, Princeton University Press, p. 243, ISBN 0691087504 .
9. ^ 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica - Macedonia
10. ^ "Some Ottoman genealogies claim, perhaps fancifully, descent from Kayı.", Carter Vaughn Findley, The Turks in World History, pp. 50, 2005, Oxford University Press
11. ^ Kafesoğlu, İbrahim. Türk Milli Kültürü. Türk Kültürünü Araştırma Enstitüsü, 1977. page 134

OSLONOR

ANATOLIAN TURKS ARE NOT ONE TURKIC GROUP

[Hellektor]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

This xxxx has gone for two long now, you talk about Azeris but there are two Azeris. The real ones living in Iran and the Turks who stole the name living in the fake country Azerxxxxxan. Every one here knows there isn't a ethnicity called Iranian, there are many living in Iran persain azeris...

Guys! A nation called “Azeri” has never existed throughout human history. “Azeri” is a pan-Turkist-Judeo-Bolshevik invented term. Dear KarotheGreat, I know what you are trying to say, but we have to emphasize exactly on this point, i.e. there is no such thing as “Azeri” to counter these pan-Turkist losers.

I think I have to copy/paste the following from the Conclusion section of my thingy ad nauseam until it gets into the heads of all who are involved in these issues (on this forum):


Delving into treasures left for us and those to come, from the dawn of recorded history, by historians of any corner of the world who have written about the region one cannot conclude but:

I. Never and in no historical period since the continents have accepted the present form and human societies have developed on this planet, has there ever existed a country called “Azerbaijan” north of the Arax River.

II. Azarbaijan (Atrpatakan) has always been to the south of the Arax River, even in those periods when the borders of Aghvank (Aran/Aluania), following the whims of the rulers of the region, sometimes reached the Arax. Generally the River Kur has been cited as the southern and western border of Aghvank with Armenia.

III. Regardless of the borders of Aghvank (Aran/Aluania), it’s interesting that, like the ancient Greek and Roman authors, almost all Islamic historians and geographers have unequivocally considered Aghvank part of Armenia. This is proof that long before Turkic invasions, the Aghvans (people of Aran) had already assimilated or in the process of assimilation with the Armenians who they were historically related to.

IV. Nowhere and in no historical document is there a word about a nation called “Azeri”. While the Persian dialect of the people of the real Azarbaijan (Atrpatakan) has been called Pahlavi Azari or Irani Azari by some Islamic historians, never has the term ever been applied to a nation before the end of the 1930s, about two decades after the counterfeiting of fake “Azerbaijan”.

V. A language derived from Turkish called “Azeri” does not exist. Turks of the Caucasus speak a dialect of Turkish.

VI. As a result of Turkic domination in the region, the people of the real Azarbaijan (Atrpatakan) south of the Arax River have gradually lost their native Pahlavi language, however, they are Turkish speaking Iranians and cannot be considered Turks. The obvious reason that backs this claim is that their affinity is to Iran and not to pan-Turkism.

VII. The people of Aghvank (Aran/Aluania) living to the north and the people of Azarbaijan (Atrpatakan) living to the south of the Arax River have always been two separate, unrelated entities throughout history in racial, linguistic, religious, cultural and national terms.

VIII. Fact III above alone pulverizes Heydar Aliev’s delirium, in case one would be so uninformed to believe the “Azeris” were the descendants of what they fallaciously and maliciously call “Albanians” (Aghvans), which is of course total baloney. Not only have they no idea of the language, customs, religion, history and culture of the people of Aghvank, they do not show an iota of affinity with this long extinct Christian nation and would exterminate them with sadistic pleasure had they survived until the twentieth century.

IX. Their claim to be of so-called “Albanian” (Aghvan) descent faded totally when instead of keeping the name of the nation they pretend to be their origins, these leftovers of Oghuz invaders that lived under a tribal clan system up to and well after the counterfeiting of their fabricated “nation” called themselves “Azeri”, nonexistent in human history.

The name Iran is what persians call themself the name comes from WWII Hitler asked the Shah if the world could call Persia by the name the people call themself.

This is not true. The name Iran is as old as Iran itself.

[KarotheGreat]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

This is not true. The name Iran is as old as Iran itself.

I'm talking about how the world started to call Iran Iran instead of Persia. Because I heard it was done in WWII
And Azeris I'm talking in modern terms of the word real and fake ones.

[oslonor]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

Azeri Turks have claimed to be Medes, Kurds, Persians, "Iranians=Azeris",Slavs, Armenians. And now they are going to claim they are Turcomans.

It is very funny now. On one hand Anatolian Turks are not really turks. They are "Greeks, Lydians, Hitties and Balkan Slavs". Now suddenly Anatolian Turks and Azeris are the same Turcomans as 1000 years ago and they are same people as Turcomans living on East side of Caspian Sea!!!!!

It seems Azeri Turks are planning to abandon "Iranian" name and adopt Turcoman name!!! This should be a warning to Armenians as Azeri turks might even claim they are Armenians again!!!!

I have no time for this non-sense and move on to Azeri Turks agenda for the region.

P.S. Turcomans did not even allow their "ethnic brothers" the Azeri Turks even pass their terrirtory. Azeri Turks had to go north of Caspian Sea into Caucasus. That is why there are no Azeri Turks in Khorasan north east Iran.

Also it is very funny with these Azeri Turks. Anbody says anything against them they accuse him of being a foreign Intelligence agent. Now somebody like oslonor comes along and say he is a foreign intelligence agent. Azeri Turks deny that and say it is not true.!!!!

[oslonor]

Re: Neo Iranians: The Case of Azeri Turks

Azeri Turk Civilization in Iran

Islamic Fundamentalism and the Sex Slave Trade in Iran

Donna M. Hughes

Professor & Carlson Endowed Chair
Women’s Studies Program
University of Rhode Island

A measure of Islamic fundamentalists’ success in controlling society is the depth and totality with which they suppress the freedom and rights of women. In Iran for 25 years, the ruling mullahs have enforced humiliating and sadistic rules and punishments on women and girls, enslaving them in a gender apartheid system of segregation, forced veiling, second-class status, lashing, and stoning to death.

Joining a global trend, the fundamentalists have added another way to dehumanize women and girls: buying and selling them for prostitution. Exact numbers of victims are impossible to obtain, but according to an official source in Tehran, there has been a 635 percent increase in the number of teenage girls in prostitution. The magnitude of this statistic conveys how rapidly this form of abuse has grown. In Tehran, there are an estimated 84,000 women and girls in prostitution, many of them are on the streets, others are in the 250 brothels that reportedly operate in the city. The trade is also international: thousands of Iranian women and girls have been sold into sexual slavery abroad.

The head of Iran’s Interpol bureau believes that the sex slave trade is one of the most profitable activities in Iran today. This criminal trade is not conducted outside the knowledge and participation of the ruling fundamentalists. Government officials themselves are involved in buying, selling, and sexually abusing women and girls.

Many of the girls come from impoverished rural areas. Drug addiction is epidemic throughout Iran, and some addicted parents sell their children to support their habits. High unemployment – 28 percent for youth 15-29 years of age and 43 percent for women 15-20 years of age ‑ is a serious factor in driving restless youth to accept risky offers for work. Slave traders take advantage of any opportunity in which women and children are vulnerable. For example, following the recent earthquake in Bam, orphaned girls have been kidnapped and taken to a known slave market in Tehran where Iranian and foreign traders meet.

Popular destinations for victims of the slave trade are the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf. According to the head of the Tehran province judiciary, traffickers target girls between 13 and 17, although there are reports of some girls as young as 8 and 10, to send to Arab countries. One ring was discovered after an 18 year-old girl escaped from a basement where a group of girls were held before being sent to Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The number of Iranian women and girls who are deported from Persian Gulf countries indicates the magnitude of the trade. Upon their return to Iran, the Islamic fundamentalists blame the victims, and often physically punish and imprison them. The women are examined to determine if they have engaged in “immoral activity.” Based on the findings, officials can ban them from leaving the country again.

Police have uncovered a number of prostitution and slavery rings operating from Tehran that have sold girls to France, Britain, Turkey, as well. One network based in Turkey bought smuggled Iranian women and girls, gave them fake passports, and transported them to European and Persian Gulf countries. In one case, a 16-year-old girl was smuggled to Turkey, and then sold to a 58-year-old European national for $20,000.

In the northeastern Iranian province of Khorasan, local police report that girls are being sold to Pakistani men as sex-slaves. The Pakistani men marry the girls, ranging in age from 12 to 20, and then sell them to brothels called “Kharabat” in Pakistan. One network was caught contacting poor families around Mashad and offering to marry girls. The girls were then taken through Afghanistan to Pakistan where they were sold to brothels.

In the southeastern border province of Sistan Baluchestan, thousands of Iranian girls reportedly have been sold to Afghani men. Their final destinations are unknown.

One factor contributing to the increase in prostitution and the sex slave trade is the number of teen girls who are running away from home. The girls are rebelling against fundamentalist imposed restrictions on their freedom, domestic abuse, and parental drug addictions. Unfortunately, in their flight to freedom, the girls find more abuse and exploitation. Ninety percent of girls who run away from home will end up in prostitution. As a result of runaways, in Tehran alone there are an estimated 25,000 street children, most of them girls. Pimps prey upon street children, runaways, and vulnerable high school girls in city parks. In one case, a woman was discovered selling Iranian girls to men in Persian Gulf countries; for four years, she had hunted down runaway girls and sold them. She even sold her own daughter for US$11,000.

Given the totalitarian rule in Iran, most organized activities are known to the authorities. The exposure of sex slave networks in Iran has shown that many mullahs and officials are involved in the sexual exploitation and trade of women and girls. Women report that in order to have a judge approve a divorce they have to have sex with him. Women who are arrested for prostitution say they must have sex with the arresting officer. There are reports of police locating young women for sex for the wealthy and powerful mullahs.

In cities, shelters have been set-up to provide assistance for runaways. Officials who run these shelters are often corrupt; they run prostitution rings using the girls from the shelter. For example in Karaj, the former head of a Revolutionary Tribunal and seven other senior officials were arrested in connection with a prostitution ring that used 12 to 18 year old girls from a shelter called the Center of Islamic Orientation.

Other instances of corruption abound. There was a judge in Karaj who was involved in a network that identified young girls to be sold abroad. And in Qom, the center for religious training in Iran, when a prostitution ring was broken up, some of the people arrested were from government agencies, including the Department of Justice.

The ruling fundamentalists have differing opinions on their official position on the sex trade: deny and hide it or recognize and accommodate it. In 2002, a BBC journalist was deported for taking photographs of prostitutes. Officials told her: “We are deporting you … because you have taken pictures of prostitutes. This is not a true reflection of life in our Islamic Republic. We don’t have prostitutes.” Yet, earlier the same year, officials of the Social Department of the Interior Ministry suggested legalizing prostitution as a way to manage it and control the spread of HIV. They proposed setting-up brothels, called “morality houses,” and using the traditional religious custom of temporary marriage, in which a couple can marry for a short period of time, even an hour, to facilitate prostitution. Islamic fundamentalists’ ideology and practices are adaptable when it comes to controlling and using women.

Some may think a thriving sex trade in a theocracy with clerics acting as pimps is a contradiction in a country founded and ruled by Islamic fundamentalists. In fact, this is not a contradiction. First, exploitation and repression of women are closely associated. Both exist where women, individually or collectively, are denied freedom and rights. Second, the Islamic fundamentalists in Iran are not simply conservative Muslims. Islamic fundamentalism is a political movement with a political ideology that considers women inherently inferior in intellectual and moral capacity. Fundamentalists hate women’s minds and bodies. Selling women and girls for prostitution is just the dehumanizing complement to forcing women and girls to cover their bodies and hair with the veil.

In a religious dictatorship like Iran, one cannot appeal to the rule of law for justice for women and girls. Women and girls have no guarantees of freedom and rights, and no expectation of respect or dignity from the Islamic fundamentalists. Only the end of the Iranian regime will free women and girls from all the forms of slavery they suffer.

The author wishes to acknowledge the Iranian human rights and pro-democracy activists who contributed information for this article. If any readers have information on prostitution and the sex slave trade in Iran, please contact me at [email protected]

Dr. Donna M. Hughes is a Professor and holds the Carlson Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies at the University of Rhode Island