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THE ZUBAAN-SASAKAWA PEACE FOUNDATION RESEARCH GRANTS FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS FROM THE NORTHEAST-II

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THE ZUBAAN-SASAKAWA PEACE FOUNDATION GRANTS
FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS FROM THE NORTHEAST

 

Zubaan Publishers and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation are offering a number of grants for the year 2019 to young researchers from the eight northeastern Indian states and neighbouring areas. These grants offer a small fund to prepare a research papers/essays/translations, etc, on the themes detailed in the call below.

                                                             

Grant Details

This research grant, in its second year now, aims to encourage young writers and researchers to contribute to the diversification of knowledge production. It is set against the broad framework/themes mentioned below, which will be examined through the lens of gender in ‘the Northeast’.

This year, we are looking for applications for research under the themes of:

1. Memory: Exploring the relationship between memory and history; the importance of oral histories and testimonies; the ways in which both private and public memory live on and find articulation; the importance, for communities, of preserving ‘contentious’ memories and the reluctance of states to ‘allow’ such memories to survive; the role of memory in healing; unpacking invisible hierarchies in memory.

2. Migration: The role of migration and migrants in shaping new histories and cultures; migration as the search for a future; migration as flight in times of war or ‘natural’ disaster; migration and cultural production, for example, food, cuisines, literature, songs, stories; migrants and ‘settlers’.

3. Children’s Literature:
a. Translations or adaptions of oral folklore or folktales; reimaginings or repurposings of traditional stories through a gendered lens; and histories, analysis and research on the same.

b. Research papers on children’s literature, learnings or accounts of library projects, community engagements, and alternative or independent educational initiatives (or independent narratives from within formal education spaces).

The idea behind the grant is to provide financial and academic support to young researchers who may wish to look into particular aspects of the histories, politics, and/or cultures of the northeastern states in relation to gender and the outlined themes.

The research papers must be written in English. In subsequent years the grant may open up to other languages, but for the moment it remains limited to English. All papers written with the support of the grant will be published electronically by Zubaan Publishers Pvt. Ltd on various digital platforms. They may also be compiled in print form, at a later stage.

The papers may be academic research papers, long-form journalistic essays or long interviews on a particular subject, thematically aligned with the call. Hybrid or creative forms are welcome.

[Note: Research papers which are a part of an ongoing or recently completed PhD thesis will not be covered by this grant.]

 

Eligibility criteria

1. If you are from Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura and are less than 40 years of age, you are eligible to apply. The research grant is also open for applicants from hill regions in the districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Dooars area.

2. Fluency in writing and reading English is necessary.

[Note: If you feel that you fit into the eligibility criteria and have an interesting proposal to discuss, one which may not be in English but has the scope of being translated/adapted, please write to us at projects@zubaanbooks.com before submitting your proposal.]

3. You must commit to researching and writing a 10,000 words (minimum) essay. The grant also allows for the development of graphic narratives, extended interviews, creative works such as fiction writing or photo essays in lieu of the essay, all within a specified timeline.

[Note: Since we have a limited number of grants available, we would like to encourage applicants who can commit to submitting the first drafts of their work within four months of selection.  Please apply ONLY if you feel you can fulfil this criteria so as to not deprive other deserving applicants.]

 

How to apply

Interested persons should send their applications, including the documents  mentioned below, to projects@zubaanbooks.com by 6 June 2019: 

1. Send in a grant proposal (maximum two pages) which clearly describes the research project you wish to undertake (the subject of your research as well as the methodologies and mediums you intend you use), which sources you will tap (primary and secondary), and a proposed timeline.

[Note: If you need any guidance/format for writing a proposal, please write to us at projects@zubaanbooks.com.]

2. Submit a writing sample of roughly 500 words or a two-page spread of a graphic story, or an extract from an interview transcript done by you.

3. Grant proposals may be creative and do not need to be written in academic language.

4. Submit your CV and any other relevant information about yourself that you think is necessary, including proof of age.

5. Two names of referees, ideally people with whom you have previously worked.

 

Shortlist and selection of grantees

All grant proposals will be screened by a selection committee. The committee will prepare a shortlist based on certain criteria and may wish to interview some candidates. Interviews can take place by Skype or phone or in person. The committee will then decide and the candidate will be informed. The committee’s decision will be final.

 

Duration

The first draft of the selected papers is expected in four months after the methodology workshop, details of which are mentioned below. Papers may need to be revised after the first draft depending on the feedback. Depending on the feedback, a month may be given for the required revisions.

 

Payments

The fellowship carries a grant of INR 35,000, less applicable taxes.

Payments will be made in two instalments: 25 per cent on approval of the project and signature of contract, and the remaining on the completion of the study.

 

Methodology workshops

All successful candidates will be required to attend a preliminary methodology workshop, which will be held in the late July or early August, as well as a mid-term online review where they will present a draft of their work in order to get feedback from peers and resource people. In the time remaining for the grant, candidates will be required to take the feedback on board and to finalize their papers.

Interested candidates can send in their applications to projects@zubaanbooks.com.

The last date of submission of application is 6 June 2019. Shortlisted candidates will be informed by the first week of July 2019.

Click here to download this page as a PDF.

Zubaan is an independent feminist publishing house based in New Delhi. We publish academic books, fiction, memoirs and popular nonfiction, as well as books for children and young adults under our Young Zubaan imprint, aiming always to be pioneering, cutting-edge, progressive and inclusive. For more information, log onto www.zubaanbooks.com.

The Sasakawa Peace Foundation addresses the diverse and complicated issues that human society is encountering in the 21st century. SPF and Zubaan Publishers Pvt. Ltd work together on projects linked with cultural production, writing and literature in Northeast India. For more information, log onto www.spf.org.

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Casting the Reading Lady

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It has been a couple of weeks since I started my internship at Zubaan, and the famous ‘Reading Lady’ is everywhere as I look. On books, perched on the website header, a painting leaning against Elsy’s desk and even at lunch, up on the wall behind, except here she is in her young avtar, holding up a book as she skips. Not much of a talker, I’ve noticed, she’d much rather be with a book.  “Tch! Tch! She has no manners.” I hear people complain. “A girl shouldn’t read too much lest she gets the wrong ideas.” But she appears unfazed, and I imagine her mind somersaulting instead through the universe held inside her book.

 Zubaan Logo

Curious to know her story, I approached Urvashi Butalia one afternoon and what she told me was nothing short of fascinating. In the 1990s, she tells me, there was a “great push for literacy all across India” and women—especially ones in rural areas—emerged as its most enthusiastic participants. As a tribute to the cause, Dhokra artists from the Damar tribe in eastern Indian states began to cast images of women reading in different positions: sitting, standing, lying down or on their sides, and engrossed in books even while breastfeeding. Made of non-ferrous metal, they were cast from the same technique called lost-wax, as the Harappan Dancing Girl over 4000 years ago. Urvashi recalls that they were quite the rage at the time and came to her as the instinctive point of reference for Zubaan’s logo which, in fact, is a stylized silhouette of a Dhokra reading lady designed by Uzma Mohsin.

Dhokra Reading Ladies, from Urvashi Butalia’s personal collection

After reading some more on Dhokra casting, I imagine this is how these women would have come to be, enduring several stages of transformation before turning full metal. Each ‘Lady’, as we’ve taken to calling them in the Zubaan office, began as a vague, embryo-like clay form, coated with wax. Artists plied the clay with their nimble hands, giving shape to her limbs and features as well as to the other details that they moulded with beeswax—such as the drape that snakes her body, anklets around her feet and the chunky bangles on her wrists. She was then anointed with sheets of clay, taking on the form of the wax underneath. Once that had dried, she was ready to be planted into a mud hearth, a womb of fire in the ground where wax melted out of an opening below, as the clay hardened. She was just a hollow now, susceptible to breaking. Very carefully molten metal was poured in, slowly filling the void to give an enduring metal female form, born holding a book in her hands.

   ‘Lady’ who lent her silhouette to the logo

Everything about the Dhokra Reading Lady evokes in me a profound sense of fierceness and strength, which I also feel looking at the Zubaan logo, where she sits with a pronounced vertical posture and head placed confidently on her shoulders. Not cowering or sitting with her back turned, but holding the book to her face in full view of society, as though challenging detractors to stop her if they can. I take is as a profound indictment of the systems of oppression that have been in situ for centuries, denying women even this basic human right. She also appears very much at ease in defiance, arms resting comfortably on her knees drawn in just the right amount to make for a sustainable sitting position, which is important if she is to exist like that in the foreseeable future. I find it interesting that the surrounding rectangle does not enclose her fully but stops short with her head rising above, which Urvashi mentioned was intentional,  “symbolizing breaking of boundaries.” Sitting firm on the word ZUBAAN, she makes a loud and most unequivocal claim to the voice that she has fought for. I think she is Zubaan’s most overworked employee because, no matter what time of day it is, she squats tirelessly with her nose in a book as if reminding people that read we must. To not only discover new stories, but also learn to tell our own. She takes me back to my room, to those moments of private absorption only a reader can know, and gradually I begin to think of her not only as a woman but also a mould that I have come to cast myself in unknowingly.

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What We Read: Feminist fiction book club, 2018

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Since February of 2016, Zubaan has hosted a book club that reads and discusses feminist fiction every few weeks. In 2018, these discussions covered the following eight books:

Salt Houses, Hala Alyan  [picked from a list of the best books of 2017*]

Swing Time, Zadie Smith [from a list of books by or about artists]

Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng [from a list of books featuring adoption]

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows, Balli Kaur Jaswal [from a list of books about friendship]

Kocharethi: The Araya Woman, Narayan [from a list of books by indigenous peoples]

A Life in Words, Ismat Chughtai [from a list of memoirs from South Asia]

Masks, Fumiko Enchi [picked by group consensus at previous meeting]

Olive Kitteridge, Elizabeth Strout [from a list of books dealing with ageing]

Next year, we’ll start with JCB-shortlisted All The Lives We Never Lived, by Anuradha Roy. Join us at 11am on January 27, at the Zubaan office if you’ve read it.

*Unless otherwise mentioned, these lists  are compilations of suggestions from book club members, submitted with that meeting’s theme in mind.

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Narratives about Therapy and Recovering from Mental Illness

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Reviewing commonly occurring themes in three novels and memoirs that explore queerness and mental illness in women: Kari by Amruta Patil, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata, and Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel.

Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama is the companion piece to Alison Bechdel’s previous work, Fun Home. Both are graphic memoirs exploring Bechdel’s relationship with each of her parents. However, Are You My Mother? also recounts Bechdel’s struggle with her mental health, and details her desire to understand her own psyche. The book is not a sequential narrative of illness and recovery, but of Bechdel’s attempt to come to terms with having an unaffectionate mother when she was growing up.

The book begins with Bechdel trying to find the right words to tell her mother that she is writing a memoir about their relationship. The memoir is, in parts, about this mother-daughter relationship, about Bechdel’s journey with mental health and psychotherapy, and about the process of her writing Are You My Mother? It immediately brings to mind Kabi Nagata’s My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, which is another autobiographical memoir, featuring a lesbian protagonist suffering from mental illness.

Both Nagata and Bechdel explore recovery through the process of writing. Nagata makes it known that writing is itself a way out for her. She tries to find things to write about, ultimately turning to her own experiences. When she runs out of ways in which to push herself to write and recover, she creates situations for herself to live through. Bechdel, on the other hand, shifts from past to present to dream. Her religious note-taking becomes useful in accurately representing her mother, all while being self-critical and analytical as well. Bechdel is compelling for the incredible self-awareness with which she narrates her own breakdown.

Bechdel revisits memories and dreams from her childhood, almost always involving her mother, that left long-lasting impressions on her. All chapters begin in an ambiguous dreamscape (much like that in Kari), where Bechdel, as she undergoes psychotherapy, tries to rationalise events from her childhood as reasons for her behaviour as an adult. Despite regularly visiting a therapist, Bechdel invests significant energy studying and decoding her own behaviour and emotions, for instance, interpreting and applying Donald Winnicott’s theories of child psychology to events from her own childhood.

In contrast lies Amruta Patil’s Kari. While Are You My Mother? and My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness try to explain and analyse mental illness by diving into the past, Kari simply narrates events from her daily life that are ordinary, but also leave her distressed. The only memories that Kari talks about are those that she spent with Ruth, her ex-lover. Unlike Bechdel and Nagata who linger in events of the past, Kari is firmly founded in the present. Kari does not try to come to terms with the past, necessarily; she prefers instead to move on.

From accepting mental illness to reconciling oneself with past events, all three protagonists approach their motivation to go on differently. Bechdel, however, brings to attention an important fact of recovery: there is no definite way about it and that ‘progress’ is not always linear. Recovery and coming to an understanding of the self is a continually evolving process, one which requires several steps and a lot of care. She takes us through her own confrontations, the determination with which she sets about trying to get better. She obsesses and tries and teaches herself psychoanalysis. In the work she puts into understanding herself and moving towards a more holistic self, Bechdel inspires.

Bechdel, Alison. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama. Boston: Mariner, 2013.

Nagata, Kabi. My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.Los Angeles: Seven Seas Entertainment, 2017.

Patil, Amruta. Kari. New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers India, 2008.

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Narratives about ‘Normalcy’, Heteronormativity and Mental Illness

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Reviewing commonly occurring themes in four novels and memoirs that explore queerness and mental illness in women: Kari by Amruta Patil, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata, Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel, and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.

Kari is a fictional graphic novel, set in what the eponymous protagonist calls ‘Smog City’. Although she uses colour sparsely, Amruta Patil’s dark palette compliments the tone of the book, and her illustrations bring life to a dull and suffocating city. The novel begins with the attempted double suicide of Kari and Ruth, a lesbian couple. Ruth is saved by safety nets and leaves the city, while Kari lands in the sewers. Ruth moves on; Kari survives to resume daily life in Smog City. The drawing on the novel’s first page echoes Frida Kahlo’s self-portrait The Two Fridas (1939) bringing to attention the intimacy of the relationship between Kari and Ruth. Not the same person, but not separate.

After this fall, though, Kari is presented to us as a single entity, without Ruth — but Kari herself struggles to come to terms with this separation. Her alter-ego, ‘Danger Chhori’, takes on the responsibility of unclogging sewers, as a way of repaying the city that saved her, and perhaps also as a metaphor of the process of her recovery. The reason for the attempted suicide is not explicit, but the novel lets us in on the facets of Kari’s life that trouble her — one of which is the pervasive heteronormativity in the city.

In the novel, Kari’s roommates and their boyfriends, her co-workers, and her parents insist on how normal the act of settling down with a man. Kari’s mother warns her that all women want to get married, and Ruth will too. Her roommates suggest that she date a man to get over Ruth. Her co-worker asks if she is a ‘proper lesbian’. And yet, despite all this, the novel never suggests that Kari’s illness is due to her homosexuality. Until not very long ago, it was a common belief that homosexuality caused mental illness (madness, back in the day — though cultures often persist in making this connection today. The biological, psychological and external factors that cause mental illnesses are dismissed, and the sexuality of the person is instead held responsible. Further, across different parts of the world the pseudoscience of ‘conversion therapy’ is still administered to those who are suspected of not being heterosexual, employing those methods that are otherwise used in the treatment of other mental illnesses.) However, Kari manages to pin the toxic heteronormativity of Smog City as the reason for its protagonist’s illness, not her attraction to the same sex.

Two other graphic novels/memoirs featuring lesbian protagonists, Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother? and Kabi Nagata’s My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness, tackle a similar issue. Bechdel dismisses her homosexuality as a possible cause for her mental illness/psychic conflicts very early in her novel. Nagata does not linger much on the topic of her sexuality. Her preoccupation with other incidents in her life, however, suggest that she doesn’t believe her attraction to women is what makes her ill.

Although not a graphic novel, Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (major spoilers ahead) also grapples with this idea. Sue Trinder doesn’t spend much time agonising over her attraction to Maud Lilly. None of the problems they face are because of their relationship. Even after Sue has been outed and begins to notice how differently her caretakers at the asylum treat the other inmates, Sue doesn’t believe that she’s mad. Apart from the betrayal she feels at having her sexuality used as a ploy to declare her insane, it doesn’t become the reason for her questioning her sanity (major spoilers end).

Kari is special for not only being one of few graphic novels with a lesbian protagonist, but also for not shying away from confronting its straight readers with their complicity in creating a heteronormative world. Patil treats Kari and Ruth in the same way that she treats the heterosexual relationships in the novel — without embellishment. Yet, she manages to bring attention to the stark differences in which their relationship is treated by others. Where Bechdel and Nagata’s works only imply the effects of a majoritarian heteronormative society on their queer protagonists, Kari explores this explicitly and does so successfully and sensitively. In this, it reflects movingly on the reality of being different in a city that only prescribes to the conventional.

 

Bechdel, Alison. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama. Boston: Mariner, 2013.

Nagata, Kabi. My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.Los Angeles: Seven Seas Entertainment, 2017.

Patil, Amruta. Kari. New Delhi: Harper Collins Publishers India, 2008.

Waters, Sarah. Fingersmith. London: Virago Press, 2002.

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Narratives about Mental Illness, Family and Unreturned Affection

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Reviewing commonly occuring themes in three novels and memoirs that explore queerness and mental illness in women: My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Kabi Nagata, Are You My Mother? by Alison Bechdel, and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters.

Kabi Nagata’s My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness begins in a racy love hotel. It takes less than two pages to realise that this manga only looks racy. Instead, we follow Nagata as she narrates the journey of coming to terms with her mental illnesses and her attempts to recover from them. Nagata’s autobiographical manga is illustrated in a beautiful two-tone palette that manages to make the main character (Nagata) charming. The story, however, is not about her charm.

The manga is an account of Nagata’s decision to move on from her yearning to please her family (more on this below) by doing something for herself and trying to awaken her sex drive. Nagata is very frank. She doesn’t hesitate to graphically depict the violence that comes with suffering from a mental illness. She doesn’t hesitate to draw naked bodies that are scarred. She doesn’t hesitate to bring attention to these scars. But what’s interesting is how she doesn’t hesitate to speak of her family either. One would assume that writing or drawing, in a memoir, about family who is likely to read what you’ve written would make you not write about them. But Nagata’s family’s presence is essential to her story. And not because they’re immensely supportive.

Nagata identifies her drive to be a good daughter as one of the reasons for her not putting herself first. She strives to be everything that her parents want her to be. She wants to get a job and pay bills and prove she’s a worthy daughter. For the longest time, she lets herself believe that being this ideal daughter is what she wants, slowly coming to terms with the fact that this ideal is at the root of her mental illness.

Another reason she identifies for her illness is her need for physical affection. Specifically, from her mother, or someone who feels like a mother, or someone who would make her feel like she’s being mothered. It’s the lack of fulfilment of this need from her own mother, who perhaps doesn’t understand or think of physical affection in the same way, that leads Nagata to search for and consequently discover that she’s not alone in this longing.

In this context, Alison Bechdel’s Are You My Mother? immediately comes to mind: it’s another autobiographical, illustrated, queer story that explores the extended effect of not receiving attention and affection from the mother. Both Bechdel’s full-length graphic books, also memoirs, deal with the relationships she shared with her parents (the first being Fun Home,  about her father). The similarity of themes explored in Bechdel’s work and in my Lesbian Experience with Loneliness goes to show that, indeed, Nagata is not alone.

Oftentimes, Nagata’s craving for affection manifests itself in ways that are exasperating for the reader to witness. She clings to her mother’s calves, sits herself in the space her mother leaves in the back of a chair, has a fascination with her mother’s breasts, and even on occasion chases after her — all while her mother remains resolutely indifferent.

This need for physical affection and touch is also brought to attention in Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith. Sue Trinder’s first few days away from her (adoptive) mother, Mrs. Sucksby, all discuss how she’d like to be in her arms, falling asleep in bed, smelling her, or some such. And while Fingersmith is fiction, this attachment to the closest mother figure is again a reminder of Nagata not being alone in wanting to be physically close to her mother. Sue’s relationship with her mother, however, is very different from Nagata’s. While Nagata’s mother doesn’t appear to be fond of her daughter’s clinginess, Mrs. Sucksby actively seeks physical affection with Sue, going so far as to continue to share a bed with her grown-up daughter. In this novel, Sue’s character does not follow the same trajectory as Nagata’s or even Bechdel’s, but has an altogether different relationship with mental illness.

My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness takes on the attachment that Nagata feels with her mother, dissects it frankly, speaking even of a sort of innocent sexual interest. Nagata is unflinching in her observations about herself and those dear to her. This honesty only makes it easier to help Nagata come to an important realisation through the community she finds via her writing: the knowledge that she is not alone.

Bechdel, Alison. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama. Boston: Mariner, 2013.

Nagata, Kabi. My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness. Translated by Jocelyne Allen.Los Angeles: Seven Seas Entertainment, 2017.

Waters, Sarah. Fingersmith. London: Virago Press, 2002.

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On Topic: Your Feminist News September Round-up!

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Hello, and welcome to the monthly feminist news roundup from your friendly neighbourhood publisher, Zubaan! I’m your host, Intern Harismita, and here’s much ado about everything intersectional feminism this month.

The Supreme Court has had a magnificently active month, pronouncing a number of landmark judgements, from striking down portions of the anti-LGBTQ+ section 377 to the restrictions placed on the entry of women into the Sabarimala temple. Here’s a quick rundown.

– A Supreme Court of India bench has partially struck down section 377 of the Indian Penal Code – specifically portions that criminalised “carnal intercourse against the order of nature” while preserving the criminality of such acts as bestiality and sex with minors. The SC acknowledged the discriminatory nature of the law against the LGBTQ+ community, and the right of consenting adults to choose how they have sex. While this is a crucial milestone in securing rights for queer folks in India, we have a long way to go in securing civil liberties such as the rights to marriage and adoption. Queer activist Chayanika Shah recounts the 25-year-long battle against India’s anti-queer law.

– In other great inclusivity news, Shillong just had its first pride march, and TISS now has India’s first gender-neutral hostel!

– Last week, the Supreme Court also struck down section 497 of the Indian Penal Code, which previously viewed adultery (formulated here as sex with a married woman) as a criminal offence (by a man), earlier this month, declaring that “curtailing the sexual autonomy of a woman or presuming the lack of consent once she enters a marriage is antithetical to Constitutional values.” Previously, this section of the IPC allowed the husband of a woman having an extramarital relationship to bring criminal charges against the man outside the marriage. This judgement is a significant acknowledgement of the autonomy of a married woman, as the law previously operated on the assumption of the ownership and subordination of a married woman to her husband.

– Later the same week, the SC lifted the restrictions placed on the entry of women (“of a menstruating age”) into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala, acknowledging that restricting access to a place of worship based on gender was unconstitutional, and rooted in a discriminatory and patriarchal tradition. While many have welcomed the judgement, there have been widespread protests by Hindu groups in Kerala since, with many women swearing not to enter the temple.

– The Supreme Court also rejected the demand for an independent probe in the arrest of five activists placed under house arrest since 29th August, and extended their house arrest for a further four weeks, under the ethically-dubious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. While Gautam Navlakha’s house arrest has since been overturned by the Delhi High Court, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, and Sudha Bharadwaj are still under house arrest.

– Meanwhile in the United States, Brett Kavanaugh, a Republican nominee for the US Supreme Court, has been accused of sexual assault by three women: Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, a widely published research psychologist (Stanford University) and professor of psychology (Palo Alto University), Deborah Ramirez, and Julia Swetnick. Unsurprisingly, US President Donald Trump is standing firmly by Kavanaugh, as is much of the Republican leadership. Here is a run through of everything that has happened in the last week. Kavanaugh’s nomination is a high-stakes game for the right-wing Republican party because Supreme Court judges in the US serve for life, and Kavanaugh’s successful nomination will result in a Republican majority in the highest court.

Leaving Supreme Courts, Indian and American, behind, here’s a look at news from other realms.

– ‘Stop Killing Us’: Members of the Safai Karamchari Andolan and activists gathered near Jantar Mantar on the 25th of September to protest the deaths of manual scavengers in sewer-related accidents across the country. Manual scavenging without adequate safety measures or equipment is relegated to members of lower caste communities, for whom this is often the only way to earn a livelihood. Meet Mani, a Dalit manual scavenger from Tamil Nadu, who has been cleaning choked sewers for nearly 30 years. He hopes “that my children should escape this shit, these fatal gases.” Read more about the horrifying circumstances under which sewage workers live, work, and die.

– Aashika Ravi writes about the crisis of democracy in Tamil Nadu, the latest in which is the arrest of Lois Sophia, a research scholar studying in Canada and vocal BJP-RSS critic, at Thoothukudi airport for shouting an anti-BJP slogan at the Tamil Nadu BJP chief, Tamilisai Soundararajan, who was travelling in the same flight.

– In a somewhat absurd mandate, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has advised private TV channels to use the term ‘Scheduled Castes (SC)’ instead of ‘Dalit’ in compliance with directions from the Bombay High Court. Absurd and disturbing because Dalit, a word weighted by the struggle of a community oppressed for centuries, has been used and claimed as a term of empowerment by the community itself. It is unclear whether this notification would apply to magazines and newspapers too.

– Thousands of people in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh will have to leave their land and livelihood to make way for a nuclear power plant. The power plant is likely to displace around 2,200 families of farmers and fisherfolk belonging to Dalit and OBC communities.

– In happier news, the women of Kudumbashree, armed with relentless optimism, solidarity, and the practice of group farming on leased land on a principle of ‘food justice’ – where surplus produce can be sold on the market only after all the families of the group farm have satisfied their own needs – come together to rebuild the state of Kerala, even as they are facing a looming drought and the devastating effects of the floods in August.

– Late this month, India’s National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) also released its first National Register of Sex Offenders. Unlike its American counterpart, India’s database shall not be open for the general public to access, addressing the potential for violent ostracization. Leah Verghese writes about the problems such a list could and could not address, pointing astutely to the fact that such a list offers little protection from perpetrators known to victims, which, according to NCRB data for 2016, account for 94.6% of reported cases of rape against women and children.

Arts and Culture

– Tanushree Dutta, in an interview with Zoom TV, has spoken out about having faced sexual harassment, flinging open again a flurry of discourse on the safety of women in the entertainment industry. She describes the harassment she faced on set ten years ago at the hands of Nana Patekar who was then, unsurprisingly, protected by the producers and the media. Journalist Janice Sequiera, who was also on set at the time, corroborates the story. The actor also spoke about an incident with Vivek Agnihotri, who ordered her to remove her clothes and dance to “inspire” Irrfan Khan. Amitabh Bachchan and Aamir Khan, when asked about these allegations, neatly sidestepped the responsibility of calling either Patekar or Agnihotri out. Meanwhile, footage has emerged of Dutta’s car being attacked as she tried to leave the sets of the movie in 2008.

Health

– A recent study published in the medical journal Lancet has found that 4 out of 10 women who commit suicide globally are from India, branding these alarming rates a public health crisis. Rakhi Dandona, one of the lead authors of the study, told the Times of India in an interview that the majority of these deaths are married women, citing as reasons arranged and early marriages, young motherhood, low social status, economic dependence, and inadequate access to mental health care.

– Ashwaq Masoodi presents a fascinating account chronicling the the sex lives of women in rural India.

Sports

– India’s women’s team, D. Harika, Tania Sachdev, Eesha Karavade, and Padmini Rout, did spectacularly at the Chess Olympiad, beating the Venezuelan team 4-0. Of course, some news coverage would subordinate this spectacular feat to the also impressive defeat of Austria by the Indian men’s team by 3.5-0.5 , but hey, we’re just glad they’re both winning.

Zubaan HQ

Over at Zubaan HQ, we’ve had a most eventful September!

– Clone by Priya Sarukkai Chabria, our newest release, will be your fix of dazzling dystopian fiction: a thrilling tale of a fourteenth-generation clone in twenty-fourth-century India, struggling against imposed amnesia and sexual taboos in a species-depleted world.

– Our Mela(s) – both offline and online – happened from the 16th of September to the 2nd of October, and caused quite a reshuffle-kerfuffle over at the office. Many many gigantic thank yous to everyone who made it to our offline Mela and/or ordered online from us! We’re still shoving packages out the door.

– The last day of our in-house Mela, 23rd September, also saw a spectacular work-in-progress performance, Allegedly, by Mallika Taneja and Shena Gamat, creating conversations around uncomfortable silences and comfortable positions on consent.

– Forget not: head on to your calendars, and mark down the 21st October as your monthly Zubaan Book Club day! The book under the lens is Masks, by Fumiko Enchi.

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On Topic: Feminist News from July and August

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Ah, July. The first solar eclipse in Cancer in nearly a decade. Ah, August. Mars was in retrograde in Aquarius. Okay, we’re not quite sure what either of these could mean for the intersectional feminist agenda—so we’re just going to focus on the news. Here you’ll find some of the most significant developments in politics, health, education, culture, entertainment, and sports from the past two months that ought to be on your radar.
— Aiswarya J + Sarvar K 

Government and Politics

– After a four-day hearing that concluded on 14th July, the Supreme Court of India reserved its judgement on the challenges levelled by around thirty-five individual petitioners against the constitutional validity of Section 377. It is likely that the Court will rule on the matter by early October. Though the Centre will not intervene in the bench’s final decision, there is much hostility towards any further legislation on marriage and inheritance rights. You can find a small snapshot of the Court sessions here, focusing on our hero, Advocate Menaka Guruswamy.

– The completed draft of the contentious National Register of Citizens (essentially a list of every ‘legal’ resident in Assam) was released on 30th July. Over 20,000 transgender people have been left out of this register due to either a lack of documentation listing their correct gender category, or discrepancies between pre- and post-transition identification documents.

– Also on 30th July, the Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, apologised for her insensitive (and frankly embarrassing) behaviour during an earlier Lok Sabha debate where she referred to trans people as ‘the other ones’ and ‘TGs’ with a baffled laugh. Gandhi tweeted that she had ‘not [been] aware of the official terminology of the transgender community,’ despite being a Cabinet Minister responsible for the protection of this very community.

– An amended version of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill was approved by the Centre on 1st August, almost exactly one year after the Bill was first introduced in the Lok Sabha. While discrimination against transgender people is now a criminal act that can lead to imprisonment of up to two years, the Bill is conspicuously silent on the issue of ensuring access to civil liberties, such as rights to marriage and reservation.

– The Delhi High Court decriminalised begging in a landmark judgment on 8th August, declaring all arrests made in this regard to be ‘unconstitutional.’ The Court held that beggars could not be punished as their presence was symptomatic of the larger fact ‘that the state has not managed to provide [food, shelter, health] to all its citizens.’

– Centre-appointed independent director of the Reserve Bank of India and RSS acolyte S. Gurumurthy recently suggested that there could be a link between the devastating floods in Kerala and the Supreme Court’s decision to allow women into Kerala’s Sabarimala temple, where entry has historically been restricted to men (and senior citizens of all genders). While Guruswamy continues his humble public service, we’re better off looking at how Odisha is helping out despite its own recent floods, what Chennai entrepreneurs are doing to help dislocated Keralites, and how you can contribute a hot meal to someone in need.

– India’s social justice community was in for a rude awakening during the morning hours of 28th August with multiple police raids, nine detained and searched, and five held in custody. Human rights activists, lawyers, and academics—both Dalits and non-Dalits—across the country were subjected to intense police scrutiny without search warrants in relation to the caste-based violence that broke out at Bhima Koregaon in Pune. The Centre seems keen to prosecute Varava Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varun Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, and Gautam Navlakha as ‘urban Maoists’ (sorry, what?) responsible for inciting conflict. Court proceedings under the ethically-dubious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act are ongoing. Happy Independence Month, or something.

Outside the subcontinent:

– The government of Hungary, in a devastating blow to local education and human rights, announced on 14th August that the state would stop funding university-level degrees related to gender studies. You can find more context for this ridiculous, transphobic, and anti-feminist decision here.

– However, the month of August also saw Germany and Austria set to introduce a ‘third gender’ option in official documents for those identifying neither as male nor female, in a major win for non-binary rights in Europe.

Health and Safety

– The Indian government’s country-wide restriction on factory production of oxytocin will come into effect on 1st  September in an attempt to curb the misuse of this hormone in the dairy industry. However, health activists are concerned that the Centre’s crackdown on access to oxytocin— a natural hormone that helps induce labour contractions and lactation in an expecting parent—may have an adverse impact on the maternal mortality rate.

– In an ongoing case regarding a national ban on khafz—the ritual cutting of a small portion of the clitoral hood of an infant, understood as a Type I category of female genital mutilation as per WHO guidelines—the Supreme Court has deemed the act unconstitutional, in that it interferes with rights to life and liberty. However, the Dawoodi Bohra Women’s Religious Freedom organisation have since mobilised in protest of the Court’s position, claiming that khafz is a safe act of circumcision that ought to be protected as a religious practice.

– Indian folks who menstruate, rejoice! After a year-long, uh, period of implementation, sanitary products have been exempted from the Goods and Service Tax effective 27th July 2018. However, there may be an unintended consequence to this decision—one economist suggests that the burden of cost placed on manufacturers as a result of this exemption may lead to fewer sanitary products being produced overall.

– The Indian Christian Women’s Movement conducted a two-day convention in Pune on 12th and 13th August where, among other topics, the issue of child sex abuse in the Church was discussed. Later in the same month, Pope Francis would visit Ireland—the first papal visit to the country in nearly four decades—and ask its Catholic population ‘forgiveness’ for the Church’s participation in the orchestration and cover-up of systemic child sex abuse.

– The Indian Institute for Human Settlements, in collaboration with volunteer organisation Green the Red, conducted a walk on 15th August in Bangalore to help raise awareness regarding environmentally-friendly menstrual practices. Get involved!

– A recent article explores the excellent Nishulk Beti Vahini Bus initiative (Free Bus for Girls) begun in 2016 by a couple in Rajasthan to help boost female school enrolment and attendance. Dr Rameshwar Prasad Yadav and his wife, Tarawati, explain that their bus now allows girls from villages to travel to their school and back, without fear of either the natural elements or sexual harassment.

Education

– Tokyo Medical University, one of Japan’s foremost medical schools, admitted to manipulating entrance exam scores for over a decade to disadvantage female candidates and allow more men to become doctors. There are talks of reparations, but no one seems to know where to even begin.

– In happier news, 96-year-old Karthiyani Amma was the oldest candidate at the Kerala State Literacy Mission Exam conducted on 5th August 2018. Kerala, which is one of the most literate states in the country, had launched this programme on Republic Day this year to restore 100% literacy. Of the 40,000 candidates that appeared, 29,500—more than half—were women. Karthiyani Amma, who got full marks in reading, silenced the debate on ageism to prove it really is never too late!

Arts and Culture

– Nagaland author Easterine Kire has won the Sahitya Akademi Award for children’s literature, Sahitya Bal Puraskar 2018, for her book, Son of the Thundercloud. The book is a product of the author’s endeavor to preserve Naga oral traditions, and draws on folklore to tell the story of a woman whose husband and sons have been killed by a tiger. The award was announced on 29th June. Previously, Kire won the Hindu Literature Prize, 2015 for our When the River Sleeps, which you can find here along with the rest of her Zubaan titles.

– The fourth edition of India’s first-of-its-kind Gender Bender Festival was held in Bangalore from 22nd to 26th August. The festival brings together an intriguing mix of artists from across the country who tackle gender issues with their practice in a bid for inclusivity. Body-shaming, domestic work unacknowledged as labour, trans activism in Manipur, and how domestic space shapes gender roles were just a few of the themes highlighted at the art festival. Zubaan’s own Urvashi Butalia was present as a jury member. Ita Mehrotra from our Drawing the Line collection also attended the festival.

– Lakmé Fashion Week’s runway this year saw ‘gender neutral’ collections, by designer labels Bloni, The Pot Plant, Anam, and Bobo Calcutta. While the garments were androgynous—fluid drapes, psychedelic colours, easy to mix ensembles—the fashion industry still has a long way to go, so far as hiring non-binary models is concerned. Although intended to “protest gender-based discrimination,” the collections lose credibility, for the bodies they were showcased on couldn’t have been more conventional for the fashion industry: angular faces, lean and muscled bodies, spotless skin. Take a look at the collections here and decide for yourselves.

Entertainment

– Coke Studio’s Season 11 began with a song of, for, and by women, called ‘Main Irada’. Described on their official YouTube channel as ‘an iconic women’s anthem with a powerful message,’ the song seems to express hope for a new and reformed Pakistan under newly-elected Prime Minister Imran Khan. The show’s lineup this time features more women artists, including singers from Pakistani diaspora (Krewella, the US-based electronic dance music duo) and from the transgender community.  A composition like ‘Main Irada’, though long overdue from this popular Pakistani music franchise, augurs well for feminism in the country. Written by Haniya Aslam and Bilal Sami, every verse is a celebration of womanhood, culminating in the chorus, ‘Main irada main Kaavish hoon, main hoon jazba, main khwahish hoon, Main hoon naon main sahil hoon, Himmat hoon main Aurat hoon, Taaqat hoon main aurat hoon’ (I am the expectation and its fulfillments, I am energy and I am aspiration, I am a boat and I am the sail, I am courage, I am a woman, I am strength, I am a woman).

– Agents of Ishq—a mixed-media collaborative project focused on bringing sex-positivity to India—and Nirantar—a Delhi-based NGO—released a gorgeous, funny, and informative music video about consensual sex and romance titled ‘Love in the Garden of Consent.’ Want more information? We got you.

– Legendary soul and blues singer and civil rights activist Aretha Franklin, the voice of the feminist anthem ‘Respect,’ passed away on 16th August. Her body was laid at the Museum of African-American History for fans to pay homage, starting on 28th August. It is part of a week of mourning and celebration in her hometown of Detroit. Rest in power, Aretha.

– Avital Ronnell (a literature professor at NYU) and Asia Argento (an actress and #MeToo activist who was a crucial part of the New Yorker’s investigation into human manifestation of garbage, Harvey Weinstein) have both been accused of sexual harassment in the past month. If you’re unsure about the future of #MeToo—don’t be. Read this thread on power, hypocrisy, and the continued need for protest by civil rights activist Tarana Burke, one of the movement’s original founders.

– Hollywood star Scarlett Johansson received intense criticism after news was made public that she would be playing the lead role of notorious American gangster Dante ‘Tex’ Gill in an upcoming biopic. Johansson later released an official statement confirming that she would not appear in the film, acknowledging that, as a cisgender actress, she should never have agreed to portray a trans man.

– A similar discussion of transgender visibility in the film industry is long overdue in India. Recent Malayalam hit, Njan Marykutty, featured cisgender male actor Jayasurya in the titular role of Marykutty, a trans woman aspiring to join the police. While the movie’s depiction of Marykutty has been described as rather progressive, the casting does unfortunately perpetuate the unemployability of trans actors and actresses in mainstream Indian cinema, and peddles the harmful narrative that trans women are simply cis men in drag.

Sports

August has been a fantastic month for feminist sporting enthusiasts in the county. The Indian women’s contingent at the ongoing Asian Games 2018 being held in Jakarta (from 18th August to 2nd September) continues to deliver enthralling performances and secure breakthrough wins in never-won-before categories for India. With two days left to the finale (at the time of writing), they have raised our medal tally to 54 by contributing 20 medals: 3 of 11 gold, 9 of 20 silver, and 8 of 23 bronze.

– Vinesh Phogat, a firebrand of the Phogat family, led the charge on day 2, defeated Japan’s Yukie Irie 6–2 to become the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold at the Asian Games, India’s second at this year’s games. Rahi Sarnobat, the 27-year-old shooter from Kolhapur, won the tie-breaker against Thailand’s Napaswan Yangpaiboon in Women’s 25m pistol to go down in history as the first Indian woman shooter to win gold at the Asian Games. In another landmark win, Swapna Burman, born with six toes on each foot,  became the first ever Indian woman heptathlete to win gold at the Asiad, pushing through the pain of ill fitting shoes to cross the 6000 mark. Meanwhile, the women’s relay team has won its fifth consecutive gold since the 2002 Games as our Hockey team secures a spot in the final with their eyes set firm on gold.

– Athletics saw inspiring victories as well. Hima Das bagged a silver in women’s 400m track at the Asian Games, clocking 50.59 seconds—her second national record after the qualifiers. In July, the 18-year-old athlete from Assam had finished first at  IAAF World Under-20 Championship in Finland, becoming the first Indian woman athlete to win gold in a world level track event.

– Sprinter Dutee Chand of Odisha won silver in women’s 100m. This is not only a remarkable sporting feat but also a step forward for gender inclusivity in India, considering she had been banned in 2014 for failing a hyperandrogenism test. Chand fought through the trauma of gender discrimination that almost cost her her career and has emerged the second-fastest woman in Asia, shutting down critics and prejudiced officials in the Athletics Federation who had failed to support her in the run up to the Games.

– More silver medals in athletics poured in on 27th August. Veteran long-distance runner Sudha Singh finished at 9 minutes and 40.03 seconds in the 3000m steeplechase to seize her second Asian Games medal. She had won gold in 2010, the year the event was introduced. Neena Varakil of Kerala placed second with a best jump of 6.52m in the fourth attempt.

– In badminton, PV Sindhu entered the pages of history as the first Indian shuttler to reach the finals, where she lost to Chinese Taipei player Tai Tzu Ying—albeit not without a tough fight.

– The women’s compound archery event saw India and Korea in close competition until the third round, when Korea secured a lead of three points 55–58, with Muskan Kirar, Madhumita Kumari, and Jyothi Surekha Vennam to winning silver. Meanwhile, the Indian women’s kabaddi team also placed second in a close match with Iran, who won gold in a historic win.

– Contrary to how the media likes to tell it, no one really ‘settles’ for bronze—they work hard for it and we are very proud of our winners! Ankita Raina in lawn tennis grabbed the third bronze medal in women’s singles tennis for the country, while Roshibina Naorem won bronze in Wushu, India’s first in the event at this year’s games. Other bronze medallists include Saina Nehwal in women’s badminton singles, Dipika Pallikal (a self-made sportswoman first and a cricketer’s wife much later. Media houses, listen up!) and Joshna Chinappa in women’s squash singles, and Divya Kakran in women’s freestyle wrestling (68kg). Our mixed bridge team of 6 with three women players—Himani Khandelwal, Hima Deora, and Kiran Nadar—also clinched bronze.

In international news, the French Tennis Federation is considering banning Serena Williams, the world’s greatest tennis player, from further French Open tournaments if she refuses to follow a recently-implemented dress code. The code appears to have been formulated in reaction to Williams’ debut of her full-length black catsuit at the 2018 French Open, which she wears for health reasons—and its resemblance to the Wakandan fashion of Marvel’s Black Panther. The timing of the Federation’s announcement has rightly been criticized by some as a case of misogynoir.

Zubaan

July and August at Zubaan HQ have been a whirlwind of activity. We’ve released brand-new books, hosted great events, consumed an inordinate amount of South Indian sweets, and we’re showing no signs of stopping.

– New books! Do you like speculative fiction, short stories about spaceships and psychics, and subverting the traditional linearity of storytelling? Of course you do. Check out your new favourite book, Ambiguity Machines and Other Stories by Vandana Singh. If you’re searching for something a little more quiet, but just as dazzling, look no further than Mahuldiha Days by Anita Agnihotri. Here, you’ll find the forests of Odisha transformed into a mesmerising dreamscape where the personal and the political are never too far apart. In the mood for some serious non-fiction? Get Indian Feminisms, edited by Poonam Kathuria and Abha Bhaiya, and explore the post-1980s feminist movement in India through a fascinating collection of essays and oral histories.

– The Zubaan trust/NGO has been hard at work on our Stepping Stones and Body of Evidence projects targeting sexual violence on impunity in the country. A meeting of theatre activists and women’s groups was convened in Chandigarh this July, discussing theatre as a platform for initiating dialogue. Our Fragrance of Peace project held a writing workshop for the recipients of the Sasakawa-Zubaan writing grant in Guwahati this August. More will be coming up on both these projects later this year.

– Remember to mark 16th to 23rd September on your calendars, because it’s the Zubaan Mela, and you’re invited! Come to our office at Shahpur Jat and get everything off our shelves with discounts going up to 70%. Support independent feminist publishing! Bring your friends, family, co-workers, a bitter childhood nemesis, etc.

– Our recent release Mannequin: Working Women in India’s Fashion Industry by Manjima Bhattacharjya is set to be launched in Mumbai next month. If you have ever wondered what goes on behind the glamour scene, or what the relationship between fashion and feminism can be, this is the book for you!

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On Topic: The Pride and Pitfalls of Feminism in June

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June has been an eventful month for feminism. With Pride Month and Ramzan, we have had much to celebrate. However, it has been a month of struggles for many, particularly for marginalised communities across the world. A month like this requires some serious feminist reflection.

 

June is International Pride Month! Happy Pride!

Desi Pride Month has been intense, to say the least. Here are some highlights:

– In a tragedy that highlights the urgent need to address the issues of the Indian LGBT+ community, a lesbian couple in Ahmedabad were forced to commit suicide along with a child because of the constant policing of their desires. The media coverage of the case reveals the stigma of being queer in a heteronormative society. However, Shamini Kothari’s obituary for the couple creates a safe space for their story. It is a reflection of her organization QueerAbad’s goal of creating queer intersectional spaces – which they did, during Ahmedabad’s first queer pride parade held in February this year.

– Things might have taken a turn for the better for some LGBT+ folks, like Lalit Salve, a cop from Maharashtra who has resumed work after his sex reassignment operation. Such acceptance at work and home is an important step toward the inclusion of trans people.

– However, the marginalisation of the trans community continues, as is apparent in a Kerala High Court verdict that simultaneously recognised and undermined the agency of a 25-year-old trans woman. The court refused a petition by the woman’s mother to allow her into the mother’s sole custody. This verdict went against her right to self-identification because the court ordered a ‘medical/ psychological examination’ to affirm her gender identity, which is in direct opposition to the NALSA judgement of 2014.

– In what might be a crucially influential step, the Indian Psychiatric Society has voiced its support for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and declassified it as a mental illness. This development came mere days before the Supreme Court began hearing the petition against Section 377, on 9th July. This will hopefully have a positive influence on the court’s verdict.

– The 8th Pune Pride and the 10th Chennai Pride added their powerful and diverse voices in favour of the petition against Section 377.

Videsi Pride month has been just as eventful.

– The LGBT+ community of the Kingdom of Eswatini (erstwhile Swaziland) celebrated their first ever Pride in Mbabane, their capital city. The march was an act of rebellion against the colonial anti-sodomy law that bans homosexuality; and their homophobic monarch who had referred to homosexuality as satanic.

– The LGBT+ residents and allies of the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya refused to be silenced by violent opposition and celebrated what could be the first-ever Pride in a refugee camp.

– Istanbul, Turkey had a similarly revolutionary Pride as hundreds of people defied a state-sanctioned ban, violence and arrests, to participate for the fourth year in a row.

– In keeping with the institutional change back home, the World Health Organization has finally declassified being trans as a mental disorder known as ‘gender incongruence’, thus recognizing trans persons’ right to self-identification.

 

Eid Mubarak!

These incredible Iftars in the past month celebrated Ramzan in unique ways, while fighting homophobia and Islamophobia.

– The Queer Muslim Project hosted a queer interfaith iftar in Delhi. Check out this video of the event.

– SANGRAM and Nazariya, a queer Muslim collective, hosted a women only Dawat-e-Iftar in Maharashtra to empower Muslim women. Over 200 women read the namaz and partook in the Iftar feast.

– The Manakameshwar Temple in Lucknow hosted Iftar for over 500 Muslim attendees to advocate for communal harmony. Such initiatives could keep a check on majoritarian impulses and maintain the diversity of cultural traditions of minority communities.

 

Social media hit some dismal lows and a couple of highs this June.

– Mass hysteria over false Whatsapp forwards, coupled with systemic discrimination against the nomadic tribal community of Nath Panthi Davari Gosavi lead to another misled and violent attack, the lynching of five tribal men in Dhule.

– Right-wing Twitter trolls added their toxicity to the unpleasant mix. Sushma Swaraj was attacked with misogynistic, divisive tweets because she helped an interfaith couple who had complained about the harassment they faced via Twitter get their passports.

– Swaraj was not the only female politician threatened with rape and death this month. Priyanka Chaturvedi’s 10-year old daughter was threatened with rape on Twitter by another Right-wing troll who was recently arrested under POCSO.

– The proposed amendments to the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986 may be a step forward in addressing the desperate need to take legal measures to combat trolling and misogyny on the Internet and other digital platforms.

– Amidst all this on-line bigotry, POV Mumbai hosted a three-day digital security workshop with LGBT+ organizations, titled #QueeringTheInterwebs. It created a queer safe space on Twitter. Follow these links for detailed, informative threads about each day of the workshop: Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3.

 

Desi News

Social media can be terrible. But we have news – which can always be worse.

– In an attempt to eliminate manual scavenging, the government has released another arguably flawed report that puts the number of manual scavengers in India at 53,236. This figure invisibilises a large number of manual scavengers. However, it marks a four-fold increase from the 13,000 manual scavengers in 2017, who were promised Rs 40,000 one-time compensation, among other benefits, under the The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.

– Such flawed reports, that try to invisibilise the rampant sexism and casteism in India, might have contributed to the now controversial Thompson-Reuters poll that declared India to be the most dangerous country for women. The report was rejected by the National Commission for Women and has received mixed reviews from academics and experts, who have questioned it based on its qualitative methodology, the scale of its comparison, and the subjective definitions of safety. However, feminists mostly agree on the point that India indeed is an unsafe country, and we need to fix what is wrong rather than defending it.

– This argument becomes particularly pertinent in the context of the gang-rape of five activists in Jharkhand, mere days before the poll was released. The enormity of the crime has been overshadowed by the political tensions between the State and tribes from the conflicted region.

– In keeping with the fascist pattern of criticising anything that criticises the State, a report on Kashmir published by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR), was rejected by the State and its opinion-markers. The report comes in the wake of consistent coverage of the human rights violations in Kashmir by the Kashmiri media and NGOs.

– The protest by Anganwadi workers in Srinagar is a testament to the failure of State mechanisms in Kashmir. The salaries of Anganwadi workers in Srinagar have not been processed for over five months now, which is making the demanding job unsustainable for women.

– When completely disillusioned by the State, this poignant Kerala High Court verdict that declares the depiction of breast-feeding on the cover of Malayalam magazine, Grihalakshmi to be inoffensive gives us hope that the State apparatus can be feminist sometimes.

– However, when the State is being overtly oppressive, we take inspiration from people’s protests. When the Maharashtra government decided to set up the ‘globe’s largest oil refinery’ in Konkan, without any consideration for the rights of the villagers who would be dislocated by the mega-project, thousands marched against this encroachment on their homeland in Ratnagiri last month.

– Another similarly important yet overlooked protest was organised by the Aravali Nirman Majdoor Suraksha Sangh, in Udaipur. Over 1,500 people, particularly adivasi women, demanded their right to fair wage, children’s scholarship and maternity benefits under the Building And Other Construction Workers Act, 1996.

 

Videsi News

Have the protests inspired you? Are you prepared for news of the world? It’s not all bad, we promise.

– After months of campaigning, the women of Saudi Arabia have won the right to drive! Watch this celebratory Beatles’ song cover and this epic rap by Saudi women artists for feminist joy.

– European Islamophobia continues to infringe on Muslim women’s cultural rights as the Dutch parliament banned wearing burqa and niqab in public to ‘de-islamize’ The Netherlands.

– Norway also banned the burqa and niqab in schools and universities, in keeping with the homogenizing tendencies of many other European nations that state ‘equal opportunity and growth’ as a reason to reduce cultural diversity.

– In another dismaying rift between feminist theory and activism, around fifty prominent scholars (including Judith Butler and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak) have signed a letter that calls the investigation of the allegation of sexual harassment against fellow academic Avital Ronell by a male student ‘unfair’. They ask for the investigation to favour Professor Ronell, based on her ‘reputation’. This age-old argument has been used repeatedly to protect those in power from allegations of sexual harassment.

– The BBC has shattered the glass ceiling this World Cup season with Vicky Sparks becoming the first woman to  commentate for a World Cup game. However, the inclusion of women on panels of football pundits and commentators has threatened sexist male commentators like Jason Cundy, who complained that women have a voice that is ‘too high’ to narrate football drama.

 

Film and pop-culture

Do you ‘identify as tired’, as Hannah Gadsby does in Nanette, her fiercely personal and explosively political Netflix special that has been all the rage this past month? Here’s some fun film-talk to make you feel better.

– Dalit culture gained mainstream attention this month with Pa Ranjith’s Kaala.

– But not everyone has recognised the powerful promise of Dalit culture. There has been widespread outrage about the erasure of caste issues that form the crux of Sairat, from its Bollywood remake Dhadak.

– The Malayalam film industry has been in ‘feminist flux’ for the past month with actor Dileep, who was arrested for masterminding the kidnapping and gang-rape of a Malayali actress in 2017, being reinstated to the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes (AMMA). Authors and actresses like K.R Meera and Rima Kallingal have spoken out against the AMMA. Four actresses who are a part of The Women and Cinema Collective have quit the association in protest.

 

June at Zubaan

That wasn’t all fun, and we’re sorry – it’s been an eventful month. Zubaan has got these fresh-off-the-press books to help you get new and nuanced insights into the problematic complexity of our society.

– Suniti Namjoshi offers a virtuoso display of how the building blocks of a fable can be used in a variety of ways in Foxy Aesop: On The Edge. It’s witty and satirical, and the protagonist Sprite is a comical figure. But at the end, her central question is one of great urgency. Let Deepanjana Pal’s review persuade you further to acquire the literary masterpiece that is Foxy Aesop.

– Rajib Nandi and Ratna M Sudarshan’s edited volume of essays Voices and Values: The Politics of Feminist Evaluation offers critical insight into why it is necessary to bring feminist perspectives to evaluating the impact of grassroots level development programmes.

– Our sister imprint Young Zubaan has a cool new Instagram page (and an even cooler new book)!

– Introduce your favorite kids to our favorite kids: sisters Anjali and Pooja from Ariana Abadian-Heifetz and Pia Alize Hazarika’s Spreading your Wings. They have a lot of questions about the changes their bodies have begun going through and they’ve enlisted their friends, their myth-busting didi (she’s a doctor!) and their mothers in their search for answers. Join the adventure to find out what they learn!

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ZUBAAN-SPF GRANTS FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS: GRANTEE ANNOUNCEMENT

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THE ZUBAAN-SASAKAWA PEACE FOUNDATION GRANTS FOR YOUNG RESEARCHERS FROM THE NORTHEAST: GRANTEE ANNOUNCEMENT

We received an excellent response to our call for applications and while we were pleased to see the interest among young researchers, this also made our task of choosing grantees much more difficult. However, we were lucky to have the support of a strong and informed jury from the region, and this final selection is the result of their evaluation of your proposals. We’re delighted to inform you that the following candidates have been selected for the grant:

  • Abdul Kalam Azad & Angshuman Sarma
  • Bonya Baruah
  • Ditilekha Sharma
  • Gitarani Devi Leisangthem
  • Hrishita Rajbangshi
  • Huidrom Boicha Singh
  • Ilito Achumi
  • Jobeth Warjri
  • Leki Thungon & Ayangbe Mannen
  • Linggi Tilu
  • Makepeace Sitlhou
  • Mary Vanlalthanpuii
  • Natasa Thoudam
  • Prerana Choudhury & Rituparna Choudhury
  • Rini Barman
  • Rishav Thakur
  • Ronnie Nido
  • Shaheen Ahmed
  • Simashree Bora
  • Sonam Choden
  • Talilula
  • I Watitula Longkumer

We’ll be getting in touch with all the grantees shortly, and look forward to working with you all.

We’d especially like to thank all the applicants for the effort and thought that they put into their proposals. We hope that you will continue to engage with Zubaan’s work, and keep an eye out for future grants or other opportunities from us; and wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours.

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