For probably the first time at a college level in Goa, a path breaking national symposium will be hosted by Carmel College of Arts, Science and Commerce for Women, Nuvem on gender diversity. The symposium will break barriers when it comes to understanding gender diversity and will help young students widen their perspective. Dr Maria Lizanne AC, Officiating Principal, explains the motive behind the national symposium, “This national symposium could be a good opportunity to engage students in sharing their thoughts and giving voice to ideas that are unseen and unspoken. It will be a platform to discuss the complexities of gender diversity. One needs to have an open mind and a compassionate heart, free of preconceived judgement, in order to understand and uplift the other. This could be a platform to have enough courage to speak with sincerity, ample humility to listen attentively and profound clarity to discern each perspective. This could also be an opportunity for genuine dialogue, intellectual growth and spiritual contemplation.”
As part of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of Carmel College of Arts, Science and Commerce for Women, the college will host the national symposium for students at its campus at Nuvem, today, September 26 from 9 am onwards. The event is supported by the Goa State Commission for Women and some of the colleges attending the symposium include Patna Women's College, Patna, Rosary College, Navelim, Cuncolim Educational Society's College of Arts & Commerce, Cuncolim, St Xavier’s College, Mapusa, MES College, and Fr Agnel's College, Pilar, besides the Shenoi Goembab School of Language and Literature, Goa University is participating and a PhD student from Pune university is reading a paper.
Dr Brian Mendonca is the convenor for the symposium defines gender diversity as an exploration of identity through gender. “There are many approaches to gender. It is fruitful to understand their myriad hues. We have been planning for this symposium for over a month, though the seed of the idea emerged from the texts we were studying at the beginning of this semester,” explains Dr Brian.
Speaking about why it is a crucial time to discuss gender diversity with young minds, Dr Brian says, “Young minds always want to broaden their horizon. As they evolve into beings which are confident and self-aware they need to understand the diversity of the world they are living in.”
The symposium seeks to provide a platform for students to frame expressions of gender fluidity. These could be in the form of teenage idioms like slam poetry, rap, songs, open mike, testimonies, posters, videos, poetry recitation, mime, dance-drama, analysis of OTT/ Film content etc. The event is non-competitive and is open to all across streams, languages, and orientations. There will be a special session for faculty to make their presentations.
Dr R Raj Rao, prominent writer and activist, will be the keynote speaker.
He is former professor and head of the department of English at the SP Pune University, where he taught creative writing and queer studies for over a decade, and Indian Writing in English for nearly 30 years. He is currently a visiting professor at Symbiosis College of Arts & Commerce, Pune; Shankarrao Chavan Law College, Pune; and (till 2023) at Nalanda International University, Rajgir, Bihar.
Dr Rao is fond of Goa and has been travelling to the state quite often. “It is always a pleasure to be back in Goa. I have been coming since the age of 21 - that's nearly half a century, either on official or private visits. I have been coming for the Goa Arts and Literature Festival,” says Dr Raj Rao.
As one of India’s leading gay rights activist, how much has one’s perspective changed since he started his work in the field? “When I started writing and talking about sexuality, there was a law against it in India i.e. section 377 of the IPC. Though we wrote and talked about it, we were taking a big risk because technically we were criminals. Another difference before then and now is the internet. We started in the 1990s and internet came in the 21st century. That made it harder to network and disseminate information. There was an unwillingness to talk about deviant desire because of the anti-gay law,” says Dr Rao.
He further adds, “From 2009 onwards, things slowly began to change because the laws were amended in our favour. First, the Delhi High Court read it down in July 2009. Then the Supreme Court reinstated the law in December 2013 and the Supreme Court again read the law down in 2018. Once the law was read down, we were no longer criminals. We could be more open about our preferences. My sexuality became part of my identity politics. At this point I am at a stage where I regard my sexuality as a metaphor for social and political dissent.”
Dr Rao will be talking about all the terms LGBTQ as he regards himself as queer because queer is a political construct. “Before the law changed it was about clandestine sex. There was 'deviant desire' and you needed to fulfil it. I regard myself as a Bombay boy and there are many places to gratify one's lust in a metropolis but when you write and teach, it is more about representation of desire. I have written about it. Why I think this is brave is because there are many people who are queer and don't talk about it because they are in the closet. If you are writing fiction and plays, you do have an alibi because the characters are imagined and not necessarily autobiographical,” he says.
Dr Rao has written six collections of poetry, ‘Slide Show’, ‘BomGay’, ‘For Hire’, ‘The Canada Album,’ ‘National Anthem’ and ‘Other Poems and Hybristophilia’. ‘BomGay’ has served as the basis of the late Riyad Wadia’smuch-acclaimed short film, ‘BomGay’, with Bollywood star Rahul Bose in the lead. “BomGay (1996) is a film is based on 6 of my poems; ‘Boyfriend’ is my first novel (2003) and the monologue ‘The Wisest Fool on Earth’ (1996) is about a young man picked up by a stranger for clandestine sex and is locked up in the toilet when his father suddenly arrives. It is a comment on hypocrisy, on capitalist lifestyles, and the difference between haves and have nots. I have always been drawn to socialism and communism. ‘Boyfriend’ got a lot of traction. Translation rights were sold in France and Italy and the reviews were all good.”
Dr Rao is the author of five novels, ‘The Boyfriend’, ‘Hostel Room 131’, ‘Lady Lolita's Lover’, ‘Madam, Give Me My Sex’ and the recently released, ‘Mahmud and Ayaz’. “The biggest challenge in writing gay novels is to make them as provocative as possible. It is part of my aesthetics as a writer. My characters are transgressive in terms of class, caste and age. The challenge is to make my writing as disturbing as possible even if i have only a handful of readers.”
At the symposium, Dr Rao will be presenting two session, the first on gender diversity and the second session on a short story and a play that are prescribed by the Goa University for the BA English Honours syllabus. “If young minds don't understand gender diversity, they will grow up with a prejudiced attitude to life. They will grow up to be oppressors. I am going to talk about gender diversity and explain the various genders. I will explain who trans and inter-sex people are, as well as the intersectionality between gender and sexuality. Then I will come to sexuality. People are comfortable with using the acronym LGBTQIA+, but they are uncomfortable with what these letters represent - 'lesbian', gay, asexual etc. What pronouns do I want to be addressed by? The assumptions are incorrect. In my next session, I will contextualize ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’ and ‘Lihaaf’, concludes Dr Rao.