Creation of She Stands Up
She Stands Up began as a Capstone project for Georgetown University’s Center for Latin American Studies. Our website houses lesson plans that expose students to the regional trends of women standing up and speaking out against violent conditions and human rights abuses.
The research conducted to develop the lesson plans considered reports generated by national and international organizations such as UN Women, Amnesty International, and the World Health Organization, as well as scholarly written work, popular media-based resources and cultural productions. The lesson plans were reviewed and vetted by current social studies and Spanish educators who share the creators’ passion for social justice-oriented teaching.
Finding Motivation in Chile
In the Summer of 2019, the creators experienced an art exhibition titled “Eva” while studying in Santiago, Chile. “Eva” artists Marcela Said and Cristián Valdés used multimedia elements to educate visitors on the experiences of women and the realities of violence against women and girls in Latin America. The exhibition led Parker and Amalia to re-examine whether and how this phenomenon is taught at the American graduate, undergraduate, and secondary school levels.
Upon returning to Georgetown University in the Fall of 2019, Parker and Amalia began to work on the Capstone requirement for Georgetown University’s Center for Latin American Studies. Parker and Amalia devised a plan to create a Capstone to shift the discussion around violence against women toward the inclusion of female agency and political participation as a response to violence. The outcome of this intellectual partnership is She Stands Up.
Our design statement
The creators had a very clear and genuine vision for She Stands Up, and it was important to make sure this translated to the logo design. They decided to stray away from colors like pink or red that are often used in a gendered manner to represent women, when the reality of women’s movements in Latin America are nuanced and complex. In an attempt to reflect this diversity, they chose purple and teal as the final colors in the palette, essentially a blend of colors, to represent unity and intersectionality. Ultimately, the arrow pointing up is both literal and figurative, as it comes together from both sides to represent a journey that can only be taken collaboratively.
