Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Exploring Queeristan with Parmesh Shahani
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Exploring Queeristan with Parmesh Shahani
This week we welcome Parmesh Shahani, founder of the Godrej India Culture Lab and author of Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India and Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace. While Parmesh was eating his blueberry cake and drinking coffee to start his day, the sun was setting in Los Angeles. Across this conversation, we explore his journey to the United States and how his time at MIT changed his world view; the legal and political struggles over LGBTQ rights in India over the past decade or so; the work he has done with the India Culture Lab and through work within corporations; the tolerance of diverse gender and sexual identities in classical Indian mythology; the role of popular Indian media as a catalyst for change; his status as a fashion icon; and his excitement over the changes that are taking place across his country as small town India embraces queer sexuality. All of these and many other themes are addressed in his recent book as he seeks to “queer” what business books look like and the kinds of arguments they advance. His closing speech about the queer future of India is not to be missed!
A full transcript of this episode will be available SOON on the episode page.
Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:
Indian student protests early 2020
Coronavirus lockdown: The Indian migrants dying to get home
Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India
Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace
Mentioned in Queeristan:
Pierre Bourdieu
Michel Foucault
Jacques Derrida
Shah Rukh Khan
Toblerone chocolate
MIT Comparative Media Studies Program (CMS)
Program Administrator Chris Pomiecko
Parmesh’s Between the Lines film series
MIT Rainbow Lounge
Convergence Culture Consortium
Swades (Shah Rukh Khan film that inspired Parmesh to return to India)
India’s LGBTQ+ Legal History
2009 Delhi High Court
2013 Supreme Court Verdict
2014 Verdict for transgender rights
2017 Right to Privacy
2018 Special Bench - LGBTQ decriminalization
2019 Transgender Act
Godrej India Culture Lab
Henry Jenkins Master Class at the Culture Lab
Parmesh’s Godrej recruitment – Godrej Live Out Ur Dream (LOUD)
Harvey Milk inspiration
History of sexuality in India
Devdutt Pattanaik – Shikhandi: And Other Tales They Don't Tell You.
Same Sex Love in India
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Narendra Modi – Hindu Nationalism
Popular media narratives of Indian parents accepting their queer children:
Gazal Dhaliwal; her story on Aamir Khan’s TV show Satyamev Jayate
More about the story of Kusuma that Parmesh spoke about can be found in his book, Queeristan, on pp 122-123.
Films:
Dostana
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdham
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (starring Sonam Kapoor and Anil Kapoor)
Lee Badget – World Bank Report – cost to business of homophobia
Michel Foucault – Panoptikon
GQ – Parmesh as Fashion Icon – Neon Green
2018
2019
It’s not the cover, but… story in Vogue India
Current Scholarship – Queer stories through the lens of joy:
Brian Horton (Brandeis, forthcoming book, Shimmers of the Fabulous)
Anjali Arondekar (UC Santa Cruz)
What’s exciting Parmesh in India right now…
Small town youth-run events:
Raipur Pride
Awadh Queer Literature Festival - Lucknow
XUKIA Collective - Assam
Ya_All - Manipur
Queer LitFest - Chennai
Projects:
Grace Banu - cooperative dairy for trans people
Dalit Queer Project
Queer Muslim Project
Books:
A Life in Trans Activism by A. Revathi
Mohanaswamy by Vasudhendra
Maya Sharma - Loving Women: Being Lesbian in Unprivileged India
Government:
Hiring trans people to run metro stations
Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].
Music:
"Love is Love" by Petter Wallenberg & Rainbow Riots, featuring Sushant Divgikar
“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].
Music:
“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
View all episodes
By Henry Jenkins, Colin Maclay
4.8
2020 ratings
This week we welcome Parmesh Shahani, founder of the Godrej India Culture Lab and author of Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India and Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace. While Parmesh was eating his blueberry cake and drinking coffee to start his day, the sun was setting in Los Angeles. Across this conversation, we explore his journey to the United States and how his time at MIT changed his world view; the legal and political struggles over LGBTQ rights in India over the past decade or so; the work he has done with the India Culture Lab and through work within corporations; the tolerance of diverse gender and sexual identities in classical Indian mythology; the role of popular Indian media as a catalyst for change; his status as a fashion icon; and his excitement over the changes that are taking place across his country as small town India embraces queer sexuality. All of these and many other themes are addressed in his recent book as he seeks to “queer” what business books look like and the kinds of arguments they advance. His closing speech about the queer future of India is not to be missed!
A full transcript of this episode will be available SOON on the episode page.
Here are some of the references from this episode, for those who want to dig a little deeper:
Indian student protests early 2020
Coronavirus lockdown: The Indian migrants dying to get home
Gay Bombay: Globalization, Love and (Be)longing in Contemporary India
Queeristan: LGBTQ Inclusion in the Indian Workplace
Mentioned in Queeristan:
Pierre Bourdieu
Michel Foucault
Jacques Derrida
Shah Rukh Khan
Toblerone chocolate
MIT Comparative Media Studies Program (CMS)
Program Administrator Chris Pomiecko
Parmesh’s Between the Lines film series
MIT Rainbow Lounge
Convergence Culture Consortium
Swades (Shah Rukh Khan film that inspired Parmesh to return to India)
India’s LGBTQ+ Legal History
2009 Delhi High Court
2013 Supreme Court Verdict
2014 Verdict for transgender rights
2017 Right to Privacy
2018 Special Bench - LGBTQ decriminalization
2019 Transgender Act
Godrej India Culture Lab
Henry Jenkins Master Class at the Culture Lab
Parmesh’s Godrej recruitment – Godrej Live Out Ur Dream (LOUD)
Harvey Milk inspiration
History of sexuality in India
Devdutt Pattanaik – Shikhandi: And Other Tales They Don't Tell You.
Same Sex Love in India
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Narendra Modi – Hindu Nationalism
Popular media narratives of Indian parents accepting their queer children:
Gazal Dhaliwal; her story on Aamir Khan’s TV show Satyamev Jayate
More about the story of Kusuma that Parmesh spoke about can be found in his book, Queeristan, on pp 122-123.
Films:
Dostana
Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdham
Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga (starring Sonam Kapoor and Anil Kapoor)
Lee Badget – World Bank Report – cost to business of homophobia
Michel Foucault – Panoptikon
GQ – Parmesh as Fashion Icon – Neon Green
2018
2019
It’s not the cover, but… story in Vogue India
Current Scholarship – Queer stories through the lens of joy:
Brian Horton (Brandeis, forthcoming book, Shimmers of the Fabulous)
Anjali Arondekar (UC Santa Cruz)
What’s exciting Parmesh in India right now…
Small town youth-run events:
Raipur Pride
Awadh Queer Literature Festival - Lucknow
XUKIA Collective - Assam
Ya_All - Manipur
Queer LitFest - Chennai
Projects:
Grace Banu - cooperative dairy for trans people
Dalit Queer Project
Queer Muslim Project
Books:
A Life in Trans Activism by A. Revathi
Mohanaswamy by Vasudhendra
Maya Sharma - Loving Women: Being Lesbian in Unprivileged India
Government:
Hiring trans people to run metro stations
Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].
Music:
"Love is Love" by Petter Wallenberg & Rainbow Riots, featuring Sushant Divgikar
“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Share your thoughts via Twitter with Henry, Colin and the How Do You Like It So Far? account! You can also email us at [email protected].
Music:
“In Time” by Dylan Emmett and “Spaceship” by Lesion X.
In Time (Instrumental) by Dylan Emmet https://soundcloud.com/dylanemmet
Spaceship by Lesion X https://soundcloud.com/lesionxbeats
Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/in-time-instrumental
Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lesion-x-spaceship
Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/AzYoVrMLa1Q
––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––