Impossible Desires: New Directions in Queer Diaspora Studies

The publication of Gayatri Gopinath’s Impossible Desires: Queer Diasporas and South Asian Public Cultures (Duke University Press) in 2005 heralded a new moment in transnational scholarship in gender and sexuality studies. The book theorized queer and feminist cultural practices in the context of South Asian diasporic migration, and served as a precursor to subsequent scholarship in queer diaspora studies that has radically reshaped the fields of queer and feminist studies in the past two decades.

We mark the twentieth anniversary of Impossible Desires by showcasing the work of a new generation of queer diaspora scholars whose work spans South Asia, the SWANA region, South Africa, and the Caribbean. Scholars Kareem Khubchandani, Suzanne Persard, Medjuline Shomali, and Jordache Ellapen will reflect on their own groundbreaking work in light of Gopinath’s book; and artists Al-An deSouza, Chitra Ganesh, Shahzia Sikander, and Felipe Baeza – all of whom have engaged in long-standing dialogues with Gopinath over the years—will reflect on the artist-critic relationship. The evening will conclude with a DJ set by Arshia Fatima Haq, artist and founder of Discostan.