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My Name Is Jody Williams
CALIFORNIA SERIES
IN PUBLIC ANTHROPOLOGY
The California Series in Public Anthropology emphasizes the anthropologist's role as an engaged intellectual. It continues anthropology's commitment to being an ethnographic witness, to describing, in human terms, how life is lived beyond the borders of many readers’ experiences. But it also adds a commitment, through ethnography, to reframing the terms of public debate—transforming received, accepted understandings of social issues with new insights, new framings.
Series Editor: Robert Borofsky
(Hawaii Pacific University)
Contributing Editors:
Philippe Bourgois (University of Pennsylvania),
Paul Farmer (Partners in Health),
Alex Hinton (Rutgers University),
Carolyn Nordstrom (University of Notre Dame), and
Nancy Scheper-Hughes (UC Berkeley)
University of California Press Editor:
Naomi Schneider
My Name Is
Jody Williams
A Vermont Girl's Winding Path
to the Nobel Peace Prize
Jody Williams
Foreword by Eve Ensler
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
BerkeleyLos AngelesLondon
University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2013 by Jody Williams
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Williams, Jody, 1950-
My name is Jody Williams : a Vermont girl's winding path to the Nobel Peace Prize/Jody Williams. — 1st Edition.
pages cm. — (California series in public anthropology ; 25)
ISBN 978-0-520-27025-1 (alk. paper)
eISBN 9780520955332
1. Williams, Jody, 1950—2. Pacifists—United States— Biography. 3. Women Nobel Prize winners—United States—Biography. 4. Nobel Prize winners—United States—Biography. I. Title.
JZ5540.2.W56 2013
327.1'743—dc23
[B]2012031155
Manufactured in the United States of America
22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
In keeping with a commitment to support environmentally responsible and sustainable printing practices, UC Press has printed this book on Natures Natural, a fiber that contains 30% post-consumer waste and meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
For my family.
To activists everywhere who work for a world of
sustainable peace, equality, and justice for us all.
And to those who want to contribute to change but
aren't sure what they do will matter. Every action
we take for the benefit of others matters deeply.
Find your passion and work on it, even a couple
of hours a month. It will change your world
in ways you can't possibly imagine.
CONTENTS
Foreword by Eve Ensler
Prologue: October 10, 1997
PART I.
IF
