The world is changing and so are the ways in which we interact and grow. Symbolic of such a change, DGMC organised an entirely virtual international conference titled Living Gender: Recognition, Repression and Representation. One day international conference was structured by the Internal Quality Assurance Cell of DGMC (IQAC) and had participation from academicians, journalists and activists across the country and representatives from US and UK academia. The day was divided into three parts, each focusing on a theme of Recognition, Repression and Representation each.
It truly attempted to represent not just the global understanding of Living gender with academician like Dr. Nitasha Kaul and Dr. Deepti Misri who brought in their critique of the colonial narrative, but also the national and the local perspective with panellists like Sampat Pal, the Chief of Gulaabi Gang, activists like Dr. Akaai Padmashali and Dr. Shamim Modi, academicians like Dr. Anita Ghai, Dr. Smita Patil and social influencers like Acharya Laxmi Narayan Tripathi.
Along with the speakers, there was also a parallel session of student’s presentations, which is significant to boost confidence in young scholars and researchers. In an interesting move, there was one paper selected for each theme out of all the submissions. These three papers were then presented after each panel as an extra discussion and engagement for the students.
The organisers also made sure that the entire conference was disability friendly through visual cues and sign language interpretations throughout the day.
