ISHQ: Issues in Society, History and Queerness

is our flagship lecture series, bringing together scholars, authors, and activists from across disciplines to engage public audiences on the politics of gender, sexuality, desire, identity, law, and culture.
Parde ke Peeche Kya Hai: Cinema, Desire and Fantasy

The event began with special screenings of films City Girls by Priya Thuvassery (The Third Eye Films), My Other Self is Plastic by Khushi Bano

April 27, 2026
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Who is Afraid of Love?

We speak of love as unconditional: boundless, transcendent, beyond category. And yet, in practice, who we love and who we marry is rarely a

April 22, 2026
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Scenting Sapphic Elegance and Queer Promises: Advertisements for Amaryllis du Japon (1891–94)

Organized in collaboration with the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, this talk examines the advertising campaign for Amaryllis

April 6, 2026
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Between Fields and Flyovers: Stories from Delhi’s Urban Edges

Through everyday stories of local women navigating intensified surveillance and restricted mobility, of young students from outside

February 26, 2026
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Are You a Man or a Mouse?: Masculinity Studies in 20th and 21st Century

This talk offered a critical survey of where Masculinity Studies are after roughly forty years since their inception. It examines the concept

February 6, 2026
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Revisiting the Nāyikā: Transformations Across Body, Form and Time

CSGS and the Visual Arts Department organized a symposium on 'Revisiting the Nāyikā: Transformations Across Body, Form and Time

November 26, 2025
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Ishq ki Chot/The Wound of Passion

A passion “mediated” by physicality led poets to contemplate the “absolute” unity of passion with the unseen divine.

October 8, 2025
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Queering the Prison: Criminal Intimacies and the Minor Revolutionary Life of Homosexuality in Colonial India

Rovel Sequeira is Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies, and of English, by courtesy, at the University of Michigan

September 4, 2025
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Indifference: On the Praxis of Interspecies Being

Anthropologist and author Naisargi N. Dave spoke to Charul Mehndiratta about her book 'Indifference: On the Praxis of

February 27, 2025
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Desire in Urdu and Sufi Poetry

A panel discussion with Wafa Hamid and Amit Julka, moderated by Madhavi Menon. Immersing into the rich

February 26, 2025
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Launda Naach, Caste and Culture

In this talk, research practitioner Krishanu explored the caste based cultural practice “Launda Naach" embedded in the

February 3, 2025
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Disability, Vulnerability, and Life Writing

How does one embrace the complexities of disability and chronic illness? What are the benefits and challenges of

December 5, 2024
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A Creative Reading Session with Queer Caravan

This creative showcase in collaboration with the Queer Muslim Project brought together the voices of queer artists from France

December 3, 2024
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The Limits of Sexuality Education

Who is sexuality education aimed at? How can desire and romance be reimagined centering masculinity and adolescence,

October 21, 2024
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“Gender Justice”, Surveillance and The Law

What are the fallacies of a push towards uniformity, and what does it tell us about the State's perception of sexuality and desire?

October 18, 2024
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Discussion on ‘The Many Lives of Syeda X’

CSGS spoke to Neha Dixit on her debut book 'The Many Lives of Syeda X'. Dixit discussd the intersections of gender, class

September 23, 2024
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Exploring Alienation and Isolation Through Graphic Novels

Through her talk, Basu explores the intricate dynamics of alienation and isolation within society. She will delve into the

April 10, 2024
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Imag(in)ings of women, power and sexuality in the mainstream Hindi cinema

Prof. Haider speaks on the trajectory of intersectional feminism and feminist discourse in India by tracing the shifts in the

March 27, 2024
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The Law and Performance

Chaudhari spoke about her investigations with law and performance, where she considers the relationship between history

February 7, 2024
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Explorations in Liminal Personhood: Humans, Machines and Ghosts in Film Practice

Fllmmaker and artist Iram Ghufran explored the subversive liminal zones that question the divide between human

January 31, 2024
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Between “Good Erotic” and “Bad Erotic”: Sringara as a Problem of Indian Dance and Theatre Aesthetics

Thinking through the aesthetic category of erotic, Brahma Prakash's talk examined the problem of sringara in Indian

December 6, 2023
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From Margins to Center: A Conversation on Caste, Gender, and Sexuality

Sunaina's talk examined the intricate relationships that caste, gender, and sexuality have in South Asian societies

November 8, 2023
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Women’s Reservation Bill: The Journey and the Direction

The Women's Reservation Bill, or the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, was unanimously passed by both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in

October 30, 2023
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Gendering the merchant diaspora: Life stories of Hindu Sindhi women in Hong Kong

The event began with special screenings of films City Girls by Priya Thuvassery (The Third Eye Films), My Other Self is Plastic by Khushi Bano,

October 25, 2023
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Bodies of War: Gendered Discourses of Warfare

CSGS collaborated with the Ashoka War Studies Club to inaugurate their student-led initiative with

October 18, 2023
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De – gendering Physics Practices: Lessons from the Evidence and from Interventions

Professor Shastri has been an astrophysicist for over four decades. She got her PhD from the

December 18, 2022
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Scenes of Contradictory Inheritances

Contradiction is the commonsense condition of law (and life) and yet the discipline of law

November 26, 2021
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Digital Intimacies: Friends, Lovers and Families in Contemporary Asia

Titled 'Digital Intimacies: Friends, Lovers, and Families in Contemporary Asia', the talk

September 13, 2021
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Vyjayanti Vasanta Mogli and Jason Keith Fernandes / Pride, Politics, Solidarity

The charges of sedition filed against a group of participants at a Mumbai

January 1, 2020
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Subha Wijesiriwardena / Private Parts

This talk explored the rise of fourth wave feminism encapsulated by a new

January 1, 2020
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Alka Kurian / The Golden Age of Social Protests

We examined women’s street activism that deliberately defies accepted

January 1, 2020
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Navaneetha Mokkil / Bodily Encounters

The presentation brought into conversation the two fields of gender studies and

January 1, 2019
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Bhavneet Kaur / The Politics of Emotion

The talk traced women’s narratives of the political struggle in Kashmir

January 1, 2019
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