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CSLG organises a seminar by Akshay Khanna

CSLG organises a seminar by Akshay Khanna

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CSLG organises a seminar by Akshay Khanna
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CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE

Jawaharlal Nehru University

 

SEMINAR SERIES

 

akshay khanna

Social Anthropologist, Political Activist, Theatre Practitioner and Amateur Chef, New Delhi

 

On

 

Splitting with Hegel: Sexualness and the Challenge of Reimagining the Subject

 

 Abstract : The Hegelian theory of Self Consciousness forms a presupposition for most notions of subjectivity in European thought. This is made more explicit in Queer theory owing to the centrality of Hegel to the work of Judith Butler. Queer theory that simply reproduces Butler without recognising this, in a sense replicates a European imagination in the global south, maintaining an imbalance in the geopolitics of ideas. 

The book Sexualness (New Text 2016) is an attempt to conceptualise what it means to think the sexual 'from the south'. It marks a shift away from ‘sexuality’, most often ascribed to the ontology of personhood, as though who or what one desires, or has sex with, defines what one is. This is symptomatic of a liberal imagination of the political subject whereby the interiority of an individual is treated as the space for the resolution of antagonisms in the world. This form of the subject is the basis of the Human Rights framework, Constitutions of liberal democracies and the ‘international’ discourse of LGBT rights, which thus structures the political, juridical and affective space that portends to connect queerness globally. To a large number of people around the world, however, there is no post-coital question of personhood and sexual continuity does not make us into particular ‘sexuality types’. There is, in other words, a ‘sexualness’ that escapes the frame of sexuality – desire and eroticism that flows through people without constituting them as subjects. This recognition opens up questions about subjectivity per se, whereby we recognise the challenge of conceptualising the subject not as an interiority, but rather, as transactional, relational and often, ephemeral articulations. Drawing on ethnographic research that informs the book, the talk will examine the machinations that enable the Christian roots of Hegelian thought to continue into Queer theory and lay out a strategy for engaging pressing questions of political subjectivity in the contemporary moment.   

3.00 PM, Monday, 26 March 2018

Conference Room, CSLG, JNU

 

About the Speakerakshay khanna is a Social Anthropologist, political activist, theatre practitioner and amateur chef based in New Delhi. akshay’s initial training was in law, after which it worked at a Human Rights NGO in New Delhi. This was followed by an MA Medical Anthropology (SOAS) and a PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh. It has, since, held the position of Lecturer in Sociology at Lancaster University, as Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, and as an independent consultant in international development and human rights. At the IDS, akshay convened the Sexuality and Development Programme and was instrumental in expanding the scope of the programme to focus on the political economy of sexuality, questions of law, legality and constitutionalism, and issues around race, nation and fundamentalism. akshay also led on the development of a philosophical, political and analytical approach called ‘Unruly Politics’ and a successful course of the same name. akshay’s first book length ethnography, 'Sexualness' (2016, New Text) tells a story of Queer activism in India and offers a theoretical frame that demonstrates what it looks like to look at the sexual from the south. Its current research relates to the erotics of political authority and unruly politics. It is co-director of RAPT (Research Activism Performance and Theatre), which is developing theatre as a methodology of research. 

 

 PLEASE JOIN US FOR TEA AFTER THE SEMINAR. 

ALL ARE WELCOME. 

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.