The South Asian Studies Program, an International Programs affinity group, invites you to  “Shimmers of the Fabulous: Performances of Touch in Queer and Trans Bombay," a talk by Brian A. Horton, on Thursday, April 27, from 4 – 5:30 p.m. (CDT), in the UCC Conference Center, room 2520D (2nd floor of the University Capitol Centre). 

In Bombay’s cruising parks, gay parties, pride events, and virtual spaces, queer worlds are forged not just through vulnerability to law and social pressure, but also through intimacy and touch. Though queer and trans people perpetually negotiate risk and rejection in search of love, sex, and intimacy, they also constantly produce creative practices to endure as well as play with state and social violences. 

Drawing from years of fieldwork conducted in queer and trans spaces in Bombay, Brian A. Horton, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Brandeis University, asks: How might queer and trans lives be lived outside of and against the reaches of cultural intelligibility and legal and social recognition? And how might queer studies and anthropology engage this abundance of life in the face of violence, risk, and erasure as a means of recognizing minoritarian lives not just in the moments when they are in crisis, but also when they brim with unbridled possibilities? Horton examines queer life not just through premature foreclosures or violence, but also through creative practices and performances that seek to extend life and its immanent possibilities. 

“I’m very excited for this event as Brian offers an ethnographic perspective on queer and trans lives in India, based on long-term field research,” said Meena Khandelwal, director of the South Asian Studies Program and associate professor of gender, women’s, and sexuality studies and of anthropology at the University of Iowa. 

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Daniel Vorwerk at daniel-vorwerk@uiowa.edu, 319-467-1619. 

International Programs (IP) at the University of Iowa (UI) is committed to enriching the global experience of UI students, faculty, staff, and the general public by leading efforts to promote internationally oriented teaching, research, creative work, and community engagement.  IP provides support for international students and scholars, administers scholarships and assistance for students who study, intern, or do research abroad, and provides funding opportunities and grant-writing assistance for faculty engaged in international research. IP shares their stories through various media, and by hosting multiple public engagement activities each year.