What does it take to survive?: Towards the abolition of transphobia
-
|
09 Feb
2024
|
Criticism and Theory
|
|
Vikramaditya Sahai
|
Image: Venus Xtravaganza, Brooklyn Ball, 1986. Still from Paris is Burning, 1990. Jennifer Livingston
This lecture is part of The Mona Ahmed Lecture Series - Supported by: Dayanita Singh
Suggesting a practice that emerges from the psychic and otherwise complexities of trans persons, this talk works against the carceral logics that address transphobia around us today. We look closely at moments in two representative texts that narrate trans life - a film that documents trans nightlife in late 20th century New York and an autobiography of one of India’s most famous trans icons - to complicate our understanding of what transphobia is, what work it does in trans lives, and who the perpetrator of such violence is. Staying with these concerns, we confront the accused of a massacre of queer and trans persons in a nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016 to cull an otherwise to the police response that followed. By paying attention to the everyday border crossings of life and death that trans persons call survival, the talk proposes a practice that might unhinge trans-ness from its fatality to address, more justly, the ways in which trans lives could flourish and be free.
In-Person Lecture at JPM institute Only
Duration -
February 9, 2024
Timing: Tea: 6:00 PM | Discussion: 6:30 - 8:30 pm IST
Registrations Closed
Vikramaditya Sahai
Vikramaditya Sahai/vqueeram is currently Visiting Faculty at School of Culture and Creative Expressions, Ambedkar University, Delhi. They have previously taught at the Department of Gender Studies at Ambedkar University and courses on intersectionality and abolition at NLSUI, Bengaluru, NUJS, Kolkata and other law schools across the country. Vikramaditya/vqueeram has written about law, sexuality, culture, and abolition in diverse media like essays, editorials, film and poetry in forums such as Frieze, TheWire, post-MOMA, The Shoreline Review and The White Review. They recently wrote the entry on 'Gender' for The Art Institute of Chicago Field Guide to Photography and Media (2022) and their film with Vishal Jugdeo, Does Your House Have Lions (2021) has been screened at Commonwealth and Council and MOCA among a host of other venues and festivals . They live and love in Delhi.