Rohit K. Dasgupta reports on the LGBT conference in Kolkata, where participants from India and abroad presented their papers on subjects as diverse as gay politics and gender identity.
Queer Thoughts, the national conference organized by Sappho for Equality which was held on the 10th and 11th April at H.L Roy auditorium, 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.
Queering the Queer
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 ‘mainstream’ 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.
Judges and participants at the Paper Presentation
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) It’s important to see how the proliferation of the different kinds of media has given it a wider readership and understanding in terms of both engaging the heteronormative audience and in interrogating the flailing gender theories.
Pramada Menon’s comments on joining the academic space with the activist’s voice was another point worth thinking about. The conference interrogated the muffled silence of acceptance, identity, morality and religion that are intertwined together within the tapestry of the Indian gay movement impacting the erotic silence of the closet and the dynamics of a love that we are afraid to speak of. The papers and the speakers spoke about giving shape to the creation of a unique Indian queer identity and in breaking the silent monolith of MSM and WSW.
Sam
