Queer Thoughts, the national conference organized by Sappho for Equality which was held on the 10th and 11th April, saw a very good turnout. Delegates had come from abroad and other parts of India, either to present a paper or just support the cause.
There was some very thought provoking stuff discussed which ranged from Dr Dhar talking about Freud, Lacan and psychonalysis to Sutanuka talking about polymorphosity and the multiplicity of identity.
I presented the first paper of the conference and am glad to say it went off rather well. I spoke about identifying and locating the 'Queer' identity in Popular Indian Culture (which was mainly films). I spoke at length about Fire and My brother Nikhil and also comparing it to more 'general' films like Honeymoon travels Pvt Ltd. and how the identity has changed over time. The Queer man from being the ridiculed character in side role to taking over as the mainstream serious hero.
The other papers were quite good too. In particular I like Niluka's paper on Disability and Sexuality in the Sri Lankan context. Also noteworthy was Monidipa's paper on Kari( a graphic novel by amruta patil on a lesbian girl) Its important to see how the proliferation of the different kinds of media has given it a more wider readership and understanding in terms of both engaging the heteronormative audience and in interrogating the flailing gender theories.
Pramada Menon comments on joining the academic space with the activist's voice was another point worth thinking about.
All in all the conference went off rather well and I am looking forward to more such events in the near future. Next on the cards is The Queer film festival (June or July, i will know exact dates soon) at Max Mueller Bhaban later this year.
P.S: Photo courtesy Niluka Gunawardena
1 comment:
Good to know the thing went well. Would be looking forward to the Queer film fest for sure. All the best!
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