Students Raise Awareness of Violence With Bandanas

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Jan. 20, 2012) – The Violence Intervention and Prevention Center partnered with A&S Wired students and The Department of Gender and Women's Studies  at the University of Kentucky to spread awareness of violence in a creative way, using paint, buttons and bandanas.

The Bandana Project, part of a national campaign to combat violence against migrant farmworker women, allowed students to express their views about violence in other countries and on campus.

"Migrant farmworker women are exposed to violence on a daily basis," said Cristina Alcalde, professor and co-director for A&S Wired. "So they use bandanas to cover themselves and to protect themselves, not only from the sun but also from sexual assault."

Using the bandana to symbolize the fight against violence, A&S Wired students in Keeneland Hall decorated bandanas and displayed them throughout the building.

"I used the phrase 'stop the violence,' and I made a peace sign out of buttons, and I just added some designs and fabric," a student participant said.

The bandanas varied, some boasting messages like, "violence is never the answer," and single words like "hope," while others solely displayed images. However, all of them carried the same underlying theme: violence awareness and prevention. 

"I think it was a really successful project," Alcalde said. "And it was really fun to work on a project like this that affects all of us."

To view a video about the Bandana Project, produced by the College of Arts and Sciences, click here.