Queerness + Tamil Identity - Gowri Koneswaran, Ram Paramanathan and Abhirami Balachandran - PEARL
Tamil Struggle 101 is an online study group by PEARL, discussing the history of the Tamil resistance and liberation movement and Tamil nationalist politics in the context of the Sinhala Buddhist state of Sri Lanka. It was conducted from April to July 2020. Queerness + Tamil Identity On Saturday, 4. July 2020, People for Equality and Relief Lanka (PEARL) held an online specialized Reading Sessions on the intersections of Queerness and Tamil Identity with Gowri Koneswaran, Ram Paramanathan and Abhirami Balachandran. Gowri Koneswaran is a queer Tamil writer, performing artist, teacher, and lawyer based in the U.S. Her advocacy has addressed animal welfare, environmental protection, the rights of prisoners and the criminally accused in the U.S., and justice and accountability in Sri Lanka. Gowri’s publication credits include several poems and two peer-reviewed journal articles on the environmental impacts of farming animals for food. She is poetry coordinator at the nonprofit arts organization BloomBars and a fellow of the Asian American literary organization Kundiman. Ram Paramananthan analyzes Mainstream-Media and Pop Culture. He writes journalistic articles in Tamil and German and lives in Frankfurt Germany. The title of his talk will be „Symbolic Annihilation of Queer People through Storytelling“. Abhirami Balachandran (they/them) is a multidisciplinary community educator, organizer and researcher. A passionate member of Scarborough's vibrant community, they strive to decentralize queer services to address access barriers for low-income racialized queer people living outside the downtown core. They are committed to unearthing queer Tamil stories in Scarborourgh and beyond through oral histories and community archiving. Abhirami is currently working as a Sexual Health Educator, as well as a co-facilitator for the Inside Out Film Festival Short Films Lab 2020 cohort and researcher for the SHADES (Sexual Health and Diasporic Experiences of Shadeism) pilot study. They spend their time imagining collective futures of strength and solidarity between Black, Indigenous, and racialized people. Follow us on Social Media https://instagram.com/pearl_action https://twitter.com/pearl_action https://facebook.com/pearlaction https://pearlaction.org
Tamil Struggle 101 is an online study group by PEARL, discussing the history of the Tamil resistance and liberation movement and Tamil nationalist politics in the context of the Sinhala Buddhist state of Sri Lanka. It was conducted from April to July 2020. Queerness + Tamil Identity On Saturday, 4. July 2020, People for Equality and Relief Lanka (PEARL) held an online specialized Reading Sessions on the intersections of Queerness and Tamil Identity with Gowri Koneswaran, Ram Paramanathan and Abhirami Balachandran. Gowri Koneswaran is a queer Tamil writer, performing artist, teacher, and lawyer based in the U.S. Her advocacy has addressed animal welfare, environmental protection, the rights of prisoners and the criminally accused in the U.S., and justice and accountability in Sri Lanka. Gowri’s publication credits include several poems and two peer-reviewed journal articles on the environmental impacts of farming animals for food. She is poetry coordinator at the nonprofit arts organization BloomBars and a fellow of the Asian American literary organization Kundiman. Ram Paramananthan analyzes Mainstream-Media and Pop Culture. He writes journalistic articles in Tamil and German and lives in Frankfurt Germany. The title of his talk will be „Symbolic Annihilation of Queer People through Storytelling“. Abhirami Balachandran (they/them) is a multidisciplinary community educator, organizer and researcher. A passionate member of Scarborough's vibrant community, they strive to decentralize queer services to address access barriers for low-income racialized queer people living outside the downtown core. They are committed to unearthing queer Tamil stories in Scarborourgh and beyond through oral histories and community archiving. Abhirami is currently working as a Sexual Health Educator, as well as a co-facilitator for the Inside Out Film Festival Short Films Lab 2020 cohort and researcher for the SHADES (Sexual Health and Diasporic Experiences of Shadeism) pilot study. They spend their time imagining collective futures of strength and solidarity between Black, Indigenous, and racialized people. Follow us on Social Media https://instagram.com/pearl_action https://twitter.com/pearl_action https://facebook.com/pearlaction https://pearlaction.org