[Reader-list] First Posting- Queer Cityscapes

[sheba tejani]

Hi Ashok,

Thanks for your response. You are right, defining queer is necessary
as well as tricky. In my mind I am thinking of "queer" as women who
love other women, they may identify as lesbian, bisexual, transgender
or may in fact not attach a label to themselves at all.

I am using queer more as a marker and symbol for myself rather than as
a fixed or self conscious category. During the course of one of the
interviews I conducted I also felt it was necessary to leave the term
fluid or to let people define themselves. What I am trying to explore
is the dialogue that takes place between "queer" women (who also tend
to fall outside of the seemingly ubiquitous heterosexual nuclear
family paradigm) and the city.  Hope that clarifies things a bit more.

I would also be intrigued to find out what the outcome of your
explorations with sms' in public spaces would be. Thanks for your
offer to help......actually it would be nice to meet all the sarai
fellows who are located in Bombay. If people are interested maybe we
could set a date.

Regards
sheba


On 1/27/06, Mr Ashok Hegde <ashokhegde0202 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Sheba
>
> Your project sounds very interesting. But one thing I
> have not understood was the reference to 'queer
> women'. Your mail does not seem to highlight your
> definition of these women, or I might have missed it
> completely.
>
> On a different note I have this concept I am working
> on how conversations over the mobiles somehow seem to
> diffuse into each other in crowded public transport
> systems.
>
> I live in Mumbai too...and if you need any help in
> your project will gladly volunteer. Let me know.
>
> Cheers and all the best.
>
> Ashok Hegde
>
> --- sheba tejani <shebatejani at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > My name is Sheba, I work for a social science
> > journal and I live in
> > Bombay. This is my first posting about my project. I
> > moved to Bombay
> > only a couple of years ago and since then I've had
> > some interesting
> > experiences and insights about living in this city
> > as a queer person,
> > and with another queer person. My project was/ is
> > being born out of
> > this dailiness of living in what many people call,
> > somewhat
> > ironically, the 'queer capital of India'.
> >
> > The project will involving creating an audio-visual
> > of conversations
> > between two women that centre around the experience
> > of living and
> > "translating" Bombay, as well being seen and being
> > translated. Of
> > course, the work will be pure fiction and I plan to
> > script four
> > different conversations and shoot appropriate still
> > or moving images
> > for each. For instance, the conversations could be
> > about a particular
> > media event, such as an advertisement, a television
> > show, a movie or
> > poster/s; about public transport, street fights, or
> > social divisions;
> > about finding/ creating/ imagining homes and
> > families, coping with
> > prejudice, or interacting with the gay community.
> > Each of the
> > conversations might have disjointed and individual
> > trajectories but
> > they would be united together in a larger narrative
> > framework.
> >
> > I am interested in the 'queer encounter' with the
> > city and would like
> > to tap into the continuous processes of dialogue
> > that enable a
> > multi-layered connection to the urban space, or even
> > produce it in the
> > first place. So it is not only the city 'seeing' the
> > queer, but the
> > queer seeing the city, by cognising, assimilating,
> > rejecting but all
> > the while engaging with the space.
> >
> > As a part of my background work I plan to interview
> > other queer women
> > living in the city about their experiences and hope
> > that somewhere
> > these will inform my work. This will also form part
> > of my archival
> > material for Sarai.
> >
> > I'm excited about the work and look forward to any
> > comments,
> > suggestions, feedback, questions etc through the
> > entire process.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Sheba
> > _________________________________________
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