Lessons from our collective past show that delivering true emancipation for all will not be secured unless the agency of people from the margins is recognised.
Queer catwalks empower the marginalised on a personal level and set the stage for performance work that carries on the fabulousness of multiply marginalised heritages.
Fabulous Fabulations: Brown Empowerment on the Queer Catwalk Read More »
Lip syncing is much more than it seems. Ibtisam Ahmed explores the contours of this embodied performance style. When I have had the pleasure of writing for Shuddhashar and similar publications in the past, my reflections have tended to veer towards analytical and academic essays. In a world as complex and structurally inequitable as the
The Chronicles of Lip Syncing: Tom Holland, Masculinity, and Me Read More »
In the last decade, the Western film industry has justly received a lot of criticism for its severe lack of racial diversity, both on-screen and behind the camera. Initiatives like diversity quotas in awards governing bodies and popular movements like #OscarsSoWhite have not only resonated in North America and Europe but have become popularised in
Racism on South Asian Celluloid Read More »
Pitting communities against each other has been part of the establishment playbook for centuries and the strategy has, sadly, not lost its toxic impact. On 22 July 2020, the British Minister for Women and Equalities, Liz Truss, had to stand in the House of Commons and clarify that the government’s response on consultations on the
Our Struggle is Not Our Own – the Need for Solidarity Read More »
Authoritarianism is an insidious sort of oppression, frighteningly easy to establish and appearing in many forms. It can manifest as a parliamentary system of governance where MPs are not allowed a free vote, thus ensuring that any majority is unchallenged regardless of its proportion. It can manifest as a toxic narcissist who consistently undermines free
The Utopian Need for Diverse Anti-Authoritarianism Read More »
Ekushey February is one of the many dates in the Bangladeshi calendar that supposedly unites the nation in a bout of nationalist fervour. Despite very few commemorations dealing with the complex history behind the Language Movement – its seeds sowed during the colonial era’s Divide and Conquer policies around linguistic division – and its extended
Ibtisam Ahmed । The Perils of Bengali Supremacy when Celebrating Ekushey Read More »
The South Asian subcontinent is seeing a renewed interest in engaging with colonial history in 2017, as India and Pakistan celebrate 70 years since gaining independence from the British Empire. In a year where the complexities and violence of the past are being swept aside for the sake of niceties and good political visuals, it
Ibtisam Ahmed । The Difficult Path of Queerness in the Age of the Postcolonial Read More »
