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Impossible Desires: New Directions in Queer Diaspora Studies
Presented by the NYU Center for the Study of Gender & Sexuality. Co-sponsored by the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU.
The publication of Gayatri Gopinath’s Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures (Duke University Press) in 2005 heralded a new moment in transnational scholarship in gender and sexuality studies. The book theorized queer and feminist cultural practices in the context of South Asian diasporic migration, and served as a precursor to subsequent scholarship in queer diaspora studies that has radically reshaped the fields of queer and feminist studies in the past two decades.
We mark the twentieth anniversary of Impossible Desires by showcasing the work of a new generation of queer diaspora scholars whose work spans South Asia, the SWANA region, South Africa, and the Caribbean. Scholars Kareem Khubchandani, Suzanne Persard, Mehak Faisal Khan, and Jordache Ellapen will reflect on their own groundbreaking work in light of Gopinath’s book; and artists Al-An deSouza, Chitra Ganesh, Shahzia Sikander, and Felipe Baeza – all of whom have engaged in long-standing dialogues with Gopinath over the years—will reflect on the artist-critic relationship. The evening will conclude with a DJ set by Arshia Fatima Haq, artist and founder of Discostan.
6:00-7:00 p.m. Scholar Roundtable: Comparative Queer Diasporas
Mehak Faisal Khan
Jordache Ellapen
Suzanne Persard
Kareem Khubchandani
7:00-8:00 p.m. Artist Roundtable: The Aesthetic Practices of Queer Diaspora
Chitra Ganesh
Shahzia Sikander
Felipe Baeza
Al-An DeSouza
8:00-10:00 p.m. DJ Set
Arshia Fatima Haq
Venue guidelines: This is an in-person event, open to the public. Registration is required. The Bowery Electric is a 21+ venue. If you are below 21 and wish to attend, please email csgs@nyu.edu.
Accessibility note: This venue is located down a flight of stairs and there is no elevator in the building. For questions or access needs, please email csgs@nyu.edu.
Image: This film still is featured on the cover of Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures (Duke University Press, 2005). It features Vasantsena (Rekha) and Aditi (Anuradha) in Ustav (The Festival, dir. Girish Karnad, 1984). Photo courtesy of the National Film Archive of India.