This weekend, Zubaan Books, the feminist publisher, and India Culture Lab collaborate on ‘So Many Feminisms!’ Urvashi Butalia, founder and director of Zubaan, chatted with The Hindu about the many strands of feminist thought, and what to expect from the event. Why, we asked, is this conclave necessary? “There are many ways in which women, and some men, are approaching feminism and identifying as feminists,” says Butalia. “Feminism is trying to grapple with this, understand how to work together, how to look at things like caste, queer identities, and a range of other issues. It makes sense to take stock, to examine the many things happening; and speculate about what the future might look like.”
A lonely place
At times, like in 2012, after the brutal gang rape in Delhi, various thought streams came together, says Butalia, but difficult dialogues have happened before and continue happening. An important thing, she says, is that unlike many other parts of the world, where feminists bemoan the fact that there isn’t a new generation of feminists, India has millennial women stepping
“But their kind of feminism has largely come from social media involvement, and is often focussed on individual rights — I know this is going to sound like a terrible generalisation and I’ll be hit on the head for saying it — and it’s also in some ways lonely activism, because they are doing things, they are gathering on social media, but there isn’t the sense of a whole movement behind them.”
Come together
What can be expected at the conclave? “A lot of younger feminists. The history panel will have some of the older people. Then you’ll see a lot of different ways of engaging with feminism, with words, actions, music, art, culture. Within the limited budget, within two days, we are trying to be inclusive, representative, of languages, regions. In the session on work, for instance, Baby Halder [the domestic worker who wrote Aalo Aandhari , about her life] is there, and there is also fashion as work. In the session on history, we have included the #MeToo movement. Manisha Mashaal, a young Dalit activist from Haryana, is a Hindi speaker; A. Revathi, a Tamil speaker and there’s also a special focus on the North-east.”
Butalia is hoping that the discussions will be quite rich, and edgy. “There’s also a general sense of celebration, that there’s something wonderful happening, and it’s also something serious: let’s look at it in a spirit of inquiry and understanding rather than hostility. I think people will have fun, but it will be serious fun, if one can say that,” emphasises the publisher.
So Many Feminisms! February 16 and 17, at 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Godrej One, Vikhroli East; more details at indiaculturelab.org
