Today I gave my 12 minute talk about sexual violence against women during genocide, and it was incredibly well-received. I was literally stunned and bowled over by the level of interest in my topic and the number of compliments I received about my presentation.
After the talk, there was a line of people waiting to talk with me about my work, and I gave away all the copies of my book that I brought with me. Many other people took my postcards (with the book purchase information), so I am elated! People even asked me to autograph the books for them!
Usually most "normal" people freak out or back away slowly when I tell them about my research on mass rape, even when I use the most euphamistic terminology I can muster, but here people are so receptive and interested. It is a big culture shock actually, because I am used to talking about this with people who don't know about it, don't care about it, or are simply so horrified by the very concept of this type (and scale) of violence that they cannot take in the information. It is refreshing and amazing to have people engaged and really present with me when i explain what i know to be true.
During lunch (after the talk) a woman who had taken a copy of my book came over to the table where I was eating and wanted to introduce me to her friend (to whom she had shown the book within the 15 minutes between the panel and lunch). I recognized in their faces the same look that normally I give to my own academic "heroes" and I couldn't believe this look was actually directed at me. Those of you who have always had so much faith in me (particularly when I had so little faith in myself) are probably not suprised by the reactions of my colleagues, but I for one am still reeling from all the positive feedback.
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