Dr. Reshma Radhakrishnan

Curriculum Vitae

Reshma Radhakrishnan has a PhD in Sociology from Delhi School of Economics (University of Delhi, India) on feminist subject formations. Examining the engagements of the feminists with family and public realms alike, and their changing definitions of family and intimacies, her study looked at the role of the ‘personal’ in the making of these subjectivities based on an ethnography of the lives of women who have been part the autonomous women’s movement.

After completing her Masters in Sociology from University of Hyderabad, India, Reshma worked with research institutes and non-governmental organisations in India, primarily on gender and sexuality. She has also worked closely with social movements on questions on caste, sex work, sexuality, gender etc. She has been part of the queer movement of Kerala.

Drawing from the case of trans-women of Kerala, Reshma’s present work titled “Strategic Accommodation of Diversities: Gender Norms and Identities Beyond the Binaries”, engages with the queer politics and the movement, attempting to comprehend what she calls the process of ‘accommodation of gender diversities’. Very recently, trans-women have begun to earn a voice and presence in the state. Despite the violence that prevail, in a very short span of time, Kerala made a leap to being the first state in India to have a State Policy for Transgenders (TG Policy) in 2015. The study looks at certain aspects of queer politics and trans-women lives of Kerala vis-à-vis the rest of the country, and analyses the questions in the light of European queer narratives and experiences.

Articles

• 2016. ‘Of Being Queer: a Background Note on the History of Queer Movements in Kerala’, ‘The Investigator’, Vol. 2, No. 4. Association for Cultural & Scientific Research (ACSR).
• 2016. ‘Keralavum qwiyar raashtreeya prasthaanavum’ (‘Kerala and the Queer Movement’), Sanghaditha, Vol. 12, Issue 2. Anweshi, Calicut.
• 2013. ‘Dwandwangalil othungaatha lingapadavee sankeernnathakalekkurich’ (‘Of Gender Complexities that do not fit into Binaries’), Sanghaditha, Vol. 5, Issue 4. Anweshi, Calicut.

Translation

• 2016. (English to Malayalam) An article titled ‘The Promise and the Lie of the University’ authored by Professor Susie Tharu, for a book edited by Prameela. K. P (written in the context of the institutional murder of Rohit Vemula, a Dalit Research Scholar of University of Hyderabad). DC Books.

Presentations

• 2016. ‘Reflections on Doing Ethnography in a Familiar Field’, Young Researchers’ Workshop-All India Sociological Conference, Tezpur University, organised by Indian Sociological Society.
• 2016. ‘Of Being Queer: a Background Note on the History of Queer Movements in Kerala’, at Quest-a National Seminar on Queer Discourses and Social Dialogues, jointly organized by ACSR and Queerala in association with CDS, Trivandrum.
• 2012. ‘Queerness and Issues of Social Justice’, in an International Seminar titled Feminism and the Law: Revisiting the Past, Rethinking the Present & Thinking about the Future organized by ILS Law College, Pune and UNSW, Sydney.
• 2011. ‘Domestic Violence and Women outside the heteronormative framework’ in an International Seminar titled Gender, Violence and Development: The South Asian Experiences organised by the Department of Sociology, Jamia Millia Islamia in collaboration with UNESCO/UNITWIN and ICSSR.