Ishan Chakraborty (Jadavpur University)
Title: Queer-Cripping Mainstream Bengali Media in the Context of COVID-19 Lockdown
Trigger warning: pandemic, lockdown, queerphobia, ableism
Abstract: I am a blind person with a certain level of hearing impairment. I also identify myself as a queer individual. I have noticed with distress that public discussion on the intersections between disability and queer is extremely scarce and rare in Bengali language. Mainstream Bengali media almost always tend to ignore/overlook this face of intersectionality. In this present period of global crises and personal trauma, mainstream Bengali media is being extremely selective in its approach towards the issues of disability; and the question of intersection is being completely ignored. Now, when community support is not/restrictively available to the persons from the marginalised sections of the society, this violent invisibilization of their concerns, anxieties, problems and/or even existence is bound to adversely affect their mental, physical and social wellbeing. As a deafblind, queer individual with significant socio-cultural privileges, I believe it is my duty to voice and document my experiences and concerns in my own language, and also to start a public discourse on the same. In my paper I shall attempt to:
a) crip the scope of mainstream media which, as a space, has not been able to make adequate room for general discussions on intersectionality in Bengali language, and
b) explore the mental, physical and social issues faced by individuals who identify themselves as both queer and disabled during this present period of compulsory home quarantine.
It needs to be stated that my approach in this paper is, to a great extent, auto-phenomenological in nature.
Keywords: Disability, Queer, Intersectionality, Media, Home Quarantine, Language.
Bio:
Ishan Chakraborty is an assistant professor of English in Jadavpur University. Presently he is pursuing PhD in the same department under the supervision of Dr. Ananda Lal.
Criposium 