Chayanika Shah
Community And Sexuality: Learning A Politics Of Unbelonging
My politics demanded an alignment with my life, and as my personal life choices were almost always against the norms of society, this was the default option. As one moved away and tried to make communities of choice, however, there were newer lessons to be learnt.
By Chayanika Shah
January 2, 2020
ISSUE IN FOCUS: LEAVING HOME AND RECLAIMING SELF
As I sit to write this piece, somehow the song Aap Ki Yaad Aati Rahi Raat Bhar from the 1978…
By Chayanika Shah
January 2, 2018
Community and Sexuality: Learning a Politics of Unbelonging
After writing the words “Community and Sexuality” as the working title of this piece, I attempted to begin writing many…
By Chayanika Shah
Issue In Focus: Leaving Home and Reclaiming Self
It seems then that there is a direct relationship between the extent of transgression of sexual and gender norms on the one hand, and the need to migrate on the other. Whatever background people come from, migration is almost inevitable and necessary.
By Chayanika Shah
September 1, 2016
Issue in Focus: Naturalising the Normative
Societal norms that are contested, especially around body and sexuality, are often passed as the ‘natural order’ of things. The objective study of ‘nature’ that science claims to do induces society to seek scientific explanations to verify naturalness. It has been shown in many cases that the questions that scientists ask, and the methods they use, are coloured by norms of society. Yet, the ‘scientific answers’ thus got help determine what is natural. In the process, the normative gets naturalised.
By Chayanika Shah
July 1, 2016