Queering the Classroom

 

Two of the four major pillars of education in the 21st Century as described in the UNESCO document Learning the Treasure Within are “Learning to Be” & “Learning to Live Together”. But how can India’s youth be considered truly educated on the global platform without learning to be & learning to live together irrespective of difference based on gender and sexual orientation? Since the Queer activist movement picked up in India with the historic Delhi High court decision decriminalising homosexuality in July 2009 “ news like, “Designer duo Dev and Nil: We want to adopt a girl ” Or “In a first, Gurgaon court recognizes lesbian marriage” are now being published without homophobic bias in English daily newspapers. The explosion of global media through internet, social networking sites and globalized Bollywood is raising more questions about gender and sexuality in the minds of young Indian youths. However, such issues are still taboo at home and in educational institutions. There are only four universities in India – to the best of my knowledge – that offer a course in or including Queer Theory or Gay and Lesbian Studies: University of Hyderabad, University of Pune, Jadavpur University and Indira Gandhi National Open University. One cannot overestimate the need for such courses in India and especially in rural India – where my university is situated – because gender and sexuality are issues that are so central to the way in which societies are organised. But no critiquing of these constructs is ever encouraged in India’s highly patriarchal society.

Since 2009 I have been also teaching a course called “New Gender Studies”. There was already a course called “Women’s Writing”. But I chose to call mine “New Gender Studies” because it would deal with the ways in which gender and sexuality were being theorised since 1990. This meant that my course would consist of two broad areas of study: queer and masculinity. However the course I offer at the University of Kalyani is different because it contains a section on Masculinity Studies – a field of gender study not found in other universities’ English Department syllabi. Sixty-four students signed up for the course in 2009. This year, the third year that I’m teaching the course, it was almost fully subscribed. 34 seats out of 35 were filled up the day the course was announced.

In introducing my students to a whole spectrum of genders and sexualities that one can find in any society I have encouraged them not to continue identitarian binarisations but to constantly be aware that there is some Self in every Other and some Other in every Self. Realisation that identities can never be hermetically exclusive of one another has helped my students understand better those identities that are not heteronormative and have been stigmatised by society as “unnatural” and “abnormal”. Not only do I have to constantly answer questions from students to whom minority sexualities and theorisations of masculinity are new epistemological terrains, but they discuss issues raised by the course even with their family members and friends. This manner of dissemination can only be beneficial to society and contribute towards the evolution of a societal psyche that does not operate in terms of identitarian binaries as far as gender and sexuality are concerned. Students are shown how we are accepting of some changes in our identities, such as change of nationality, marital status, and religion, but not of changes in sexuality and gender. They are asked to question why sexuality and gender should be sacrosanct.

Since I have begun teaching this course, several students have reported to me how their attitude to sexual and gendered minorities has changed. Further, they have informed me about how they are talking about it to their parents, siblings and friends. The course has also helped two students to accept their sexuality and feel legitimate. Moreover, my course is taught at a rural university; since the urban, metropolitan subject is regarded as being more liberal, the rural is constructed as the binarised Other: conservative, bigoted, close-minded. But some of my most receptive students hailed and continue to hail from remote townships, far removed from Calcutta. Enabled by knowledge provided by books such as Same-Sex Love in India by Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai, they are now combating widespread homophobia which often masquerades as patriotism. The constant reference to homosexuality as a foreign invasion not indigenous to India is countered by the information they gather from this course.

As can be imagined, students have a vast number of questions related to gender and sexuality that need answering. Since it is not possible for me to answer all the questions while I am in the department, I set up a Facebook account called “New Gender Studies” in June 2010, where students can post their questions. Although I have, till date, taught the course to no more than 130 students, most of who do not have access to computers, the “New Gender Studies” Facebook page had 393 members at last count. Also 50% of my 130 students are members and they access the group page at least once a week from some cyber cafe. The page has attracted the interest of various scholars and academics from outside West Bengal and even India, who regularly discuss issues of gender and sexuality on the New Gender Studies Wall. I believe a course such as mine is necessary at all Indian universities because it helps destabilise the gendered hierarchy on which patriarchy depends and it arms the students with theories to combat homophobia, transphobia and sexism in the society at large.

 

2 Responses to “Queering the Classroom”

  1. Liana Giorgi says:
    10/12/2011 at 2:39 pm

    Congratulations on an important initiative.
    Anything that contributes to overcoming discrimination and facilitates learning and accepting diversity is a good thing. There is no reason why children should not be aware that people are different, and still we are all humans.

  2. Mousumi Mukherjee says:
    10/16/2011 at 5:07 am

    Thanks for your comments Liana! Please share our site with others and encourage them to get engaged in a dialogue with the authors and with each other. We want the forum to become a global platform for policy debates.

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