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Episode 4: Paromita Vohra

Podcast|Podcast Series: Dreams, Dialogues and Disruptions

Podcast Series: Dreams, Dialogues, Disruptions © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi

Podcast Series: Dreams, Dialogues, Disruptions © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi © Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi


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 4
PAROMITA VOHRA

In this episode, we speak to Paromita Vohra about the power to explore desire and sexuality.

We discuss how a politics of sex, pleasure and desire can be negotiated through the Internet and as well as offline.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Paromita Vohra is a filmmaker and writer who explores themes of feminism, desire, urban life and popular culture. She is noted for being among the filmmakers who opened up new languages of documentary, mixing fiction and fiction to create a unique playful feminist essay form. She is the founder of the award-winning platform Agents of Ishq, a project on sex, love and desire for Indians.

Learn more about her here.
Access Agents of Ishq 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.

Unlimited Girls. Directed by Paromita Vohra, SAKSHI, 2002. YouTube, uploaded by Parodevi Pictures, 22 April 2022⁠.

“The Amorous Adventures of Shakku and Megha in the Valley of Consent.” YouTube, uploaded by Agents of Ishq, 9 March 2016.

ABOUT THE HOST

Kamayani Sharma © Maninder Adityaraj Singh © Maninder Adityaraj Singh

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.