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'WHAT'S A MORCHA DOING IN MY PARADE?'

'WHAT'S A MORCHA DOING IN MY PARADE?'

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'WHAT'S A MORCHA DOING IN MY PARADE?'
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<strong>CENTRE FOR WOMEN'S STUDIES, JNU</strong> a Panel Discussion on <strong>'WHAT'S A MORCHA DOING IN MY PARADE?'</strong> by <strong>Chayanika Shah and Shals Mahajan</strong> LABIA – A Queer Feminist LBT Collective, a Bombay based activist group, functioning since 1995, found participation in the Mumbai Pride March this January, not just impossible but also untenable. For a collective that has been part of the fabric of queer organising in the city for more than twenty years, and has through the decades of heavy HIV funding as well as intense NGOisation of the LGBT movement remained non-funded and voluntary, and was part of organising several of the public actions around queer issues overthe two decades of its existence, this was a strange and yet completely logical move. In a year that has seen so much protest around issues of caste, in campuses, against communal and right wing politics, and a growing resistance of movements joining hands across various identities, this step to stay away from what is the most visible queer event in the city, is somewhat incomprehensible. Yet, it is this very refusal to join hands with other queer groups that choose to march for queer pride, and yet do not see how a queer pride can raise issues of caste, class and patriarchy as intrinsic and essential issues, that tells the story of how queer organising has developed in the last two decades. How has the mainstream of queer organising been constructed and where are the margins? Which intersections have worked and which haven't? Which rights of which queer persons have been raised by which queer movements? How has the discourse around gender and sexuality changed, or not? What can queer movements be if they are truly radical and work on social change and not assimilatory politics? Our talk will focus on these and similar concerns. About the speakers: Shals Mahajan and Chayanika Shah are queer feminist activists and have been part of LABIA – Queer Feminist LBT Collective for the past two decades and have co-authored No Outlaws in the Gender Galaxy. Shals is genderqueer, a writer, and has worked on issues of gender, sexuality, caste and communalism as trainer, teacher and activist. Ze has studied literature and has conducted workshops on writing with university students, with people working in NGOs, with women returning to literacy, and queer persons. Ze has also published a children's book, Timmi in Tangles. Chayanika is a Physicist by training. She is a member of Forum Against Oppression of Women. She has campaigned, researched, taught and written on politics of population control, communalism, feminist studies of science, and gender and sexuality. Her other co-authored books are "Bharat ki Chaap" and "We and Our Fertility: The politics of technological intervention. <strong>15th October 2016</strong>

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.