Episode 3: Aqsa Shaikh

Drawing on the Third World and Black feminist histories of the concept of "empowerment", Dreams, Dialogues and Disruptions is a 5-part series that explores the idea of power as the capability to make things possible. We speak to guests from diverse fields and representing a variety of standpoints to think through how empowerment manifests in contemporary India.

Empowerment is the process by which unequal individuals and collectives can become capable of making things possible for themselves as well as their communities. It is a way to think about power through a different preposition — power to and with, rather than power over.

What does it mean to have the power to act?
In what ways do we share power with each other?
How does power mediate our relationships with infrastructures, commons, bodies and imaginaries?
Find out on Dreams, Dialogues and Disruptions.

Episode 3
AQSA SHAIKH

In this episode, we speak to Aqsa Shaikh about the power to access care.
We talk about developing healthcare models from a transfeminist perspective that centres, includes and affirms patients across marginalities.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr. Aqsa Shaikh is Professor of Community Medicine at Hamdard Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Jamia Hamdard, and Patient Safety Officer of HAHC Hospital, both institutions in Delhi. She undertakes research and advocacy for transgender and disabled communities in the healthcare sector.

Learn more about her here.

WORKS CITED
Calvès, Anne-Emmanuèle.“Empowerment: The History of a Key Concept in Contemporary
Development Discourse.” Revue Tiers Monde, 2009/4 No 200, 2009.p.735-749.

D'souza, Sharin, Bhakti Ghatole, Harikeerthan Raghuram, Shreyus Sukhija, Satendra Singh, Aqsa Shaikh, Sunita Sheel Bandewar, and Anant Bhan. “Understanding structural inequities in Covid-19 vaccine access and uptake among disability, transgender and gender-diverse communities in India.” Vaccine, Volume 42, Supplement 5, 2024.

ABOUT THE HOST Kamayani Sharma is a writer, podcaster and translator focussing on visual art, culture and media. Formerly a text editor with Art India, Teaching Fellow at Ashoka University and researcher with Sarai-CSDS, she develops and manages the audio programme for Sharjah Art Foundation and runs ARTalaap, South Asia’s first independent visual culture podcast. Sharma contributes critical and creative writing to publications worldwide. She was a finalist at the International Awards for Art Criticism 2020, won the RedInk Award 2023 for print journalism in the Arts and the Art Writers' Award 2024 presented by Pro Helvetia and TAKE On Art magazine.

The "Dreams, Dialogues, and Disruptions" podcast series has been developed as part of the New Delhi edition of the travelling exhibition ‘Empowerment – Art and Feminisms’ by Kunstmuseum Wolfsberg and Goethe-Institut South Asia.