This event is a joint collaboration with KPU’s Faculty of
Arts and UBC’s Department of Asian Studies. This talk is free\, open to the
public\, and will be delivered in an accessible mix of English and Punjabi
. Registration is required (please find the registration form above).
In colonial Punjab\, several Punjabi authors\, reformers\, and prac titioners of Ayurveda\, Unani\, and/or western medicine – Daktari\, wrote books and pamphlets on improving sexual and reproductive health of Pu njabis. In this talk\, Azad will discuss some of the contexts that enabled them to write on such subjects as well as how these discussions and debates influenced popular conceptions of masculinity\, love\, and sex. The talk w ill provide an overview of key debates on health\, sexuality\, and gender d uring this period.
Date & Time:
Thursday\, June
6\, 2024 | 6:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Location:
Newto
n Branch Library Meeting Room\, 13795 70 Avenue Surrey\, BC V3W 0E1
Nikita Azad (they/she) is a final-year PhD candidate in History at the University of Oxford where she works on the his tory of medicine and embodiment\, particularly\, gender\, sexuality\, and e motions in the colonial Punjabi print sphere from 1898 to 1948. She is also a Rhodes Scholar and a Welcome Trust Doctoral Scholar at Oxford. Born and brought up in Jalandhar\, she often writes about gender\, selfhood\, the na tural world\, and human-nonhuman relationships. She is a Nan Shepherd Prize longlisted author (2021) and the author of Dakhalandazi (Autumn Art \, 2022)\, a Punjabi essay collection on gender\, sexuality\, and feminism in Punjab. Her writings have appeared (and been featured) in The Guardi an\, BBC\, Bad Lilies\, Longreads\, Aeon\, The Willowherb Review\, Dust Poe try Magazine\, History Workshop Journal\, The Quint\, The Indian Express\, Punjabi Tribune\, and more.