Vanessa Griffen

Vanessa Griffen is a Fijian academic and writer who campaigns against the use and proliferation of nuclear weapons.[1][2]

Biography

Griffen was born in Suva, Fiji and attended the University of the South Pacific. She and a group of fellow students and graduates formed a writers' group, University of the South Pacific Arts Group (UNISPAC) to promote creative writing and encourage each other to have their work published.[3] Griffen specialises in writing short stories, which she began to publish from 1969.[4]

As a student, Griffen became aware of the environmental and genetic impacts of radioactivity from French nuclear weapons testing in French Polynesia. She joined the anti-nuclear movement ATOM (Against Testing on Mururoa) and helped form the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific network.[1] In 1975 she was part of a group of 5 Fijian women who attended the United Nations' International Year of the Woman conference in Mexico City.[5] She later joined the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and presented a statement at the United Nations negotiations on the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.[6]

Publications
  • Women's role in Fiji (co-writer), South Pacific Social Services Association, 1975
  • Women Speak Out! A Report of the Pacific Women's Conference, The Pacific Women's Conference, 1976[7]
  • Caring for Ourselves: A Health Handbook for Pacific Women (editor), University of the South Pacific, 1983[8]
  • Women, Development and Empowerment: A Pacific Feminist Perspective (editor), Asian and Pacific Development Centre, 1989[9]

References
  1. User, Super. "Vanessa Griffen". www.civicus.org. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  2. "Pacific plays key role in bid to ban nukes". Radio New Zealand. 2017-12-11. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  3. Wisker, Gina (2017). Post-Colonial and African American Women's Writing: A Critical Introduction. Macmillan International Higher Education.
  4. Subramani (1992). South Pacific Literature: From Myth to Fabulation. University of the South Pacific.
  5. Walker, Anne (2018). A World of Change: My life in the global women’s rights movement. Australian Scholarly Publishing.
  6. "Pacific Islands leading the way | ICAN". www.icanw.org. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  7. "Women Speak Out! A Report of the Pacific Women's Conference. October 27 – November 2 | NZETC". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  8. Science of Pacific Island Peoples: Fauna, flora, food and medicine. University of the South Pacific. 1994.
  9. "Women, Development and Empowerment: A Pacific Feminist Perspective | NZETC". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
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