Donnerstag | 16.15 Uhr | Insight and Blindness Sexual Violence and Feminism in Contemporary India Mary E John (Centre for Women's Development Studies, New Delhi) This lecture will attempt to place the hypervisibility of issues of sexual violence in India in some critical perspective. It begins by discussing what is new about the new visibility of violence against women after the Delhi gang rape of 2012, compared to the prior long history of campaigns on the issue. Insights continue to unfold into the present, and in various forms. Critical views of the appropriation of the Delhi gang rape itself in cementing false images of stranger rape as the most common form of violence women must fear have gained ground. Furthermore, new researches have been able to provide a corrective to reveal a much more complex picture, when it comes to interpreting what the official crime data says as well as actual experiences on the ground. However, the presentation goes on to argue that there has also been blindness in the saturation of violence in public discourses on women’s issues. The now widely held perception that violence is the single most important problem responsible for women’s oppression and lack of freedom is casting a long shadow. The relevant contexts for thinking about sexual harassment and violence today are largely missing – the first of these is the role of education and higher educational institutions, and the second is that of work and employment. I argue that without these our discussions on women’s freedom and autonomy fall way short of their potential for bringing genuine transformation. Adresse Karl Jaspers Zentrum, Gebäude 4400 212 Voßstraße 2 69115 Heidelberg Veranstalter Südasien-Institut, Abteilung Kultur- und Religionsgeschichte Südasiens Homepage Veranstalter Kontakt |