Gaze of the World and I | Ruth Vanita

In this episode, we speak to Ruth Vanita, an academic, an activist, and an author who has contributed immensely to literature around gender, sexuality, and culture. We speak to her about her book 'Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans of Bombay Cinema,' and explore her ground-breaking study of courtesan imagery in 235 films, throwing light on the role the courtesan figure played in shaping the modern Indian erotic, political and religious imagination.

About the Guest:
Ruth Vanita co-founded India’s first nationwide feminist magazine called Manushi: A journal about Women and Society, which combined academic research and grassroots activism. An author of several books such as Gender, Sex and the City: Urdu Rekhti Poetry in India, Memory of Light, Love’s Rite: Same-sex Marriage in India and the West and Dancing with the Nation: Courtesans of Bombay Cinema, she has also translated many works of fiction and poetry from Hindi and Urdu to English. 

This series is hosted by Swati. Swati is a Social Design Practitioner, a researcher, and a podcaster. She has been working with the medium of audio for over 5 years, running a community radio station in Ahmedabad,  and has experimented with various forms of story-telling through different mediums.

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