Navigating your life as a minority on a University campus can be pretty jarring. So, it’s only fair that there be certain sensitization mechanisms in place that ensure the voices of the oppressed are heard and amplified.
Commemorating the landmark judgment of the Supreme Court of India to decriminalize Section 377 of the IPC, the Krea family observed a session of “Filtered Coffee, Unfiltered Conversations” on 5th of September, 2023. The session, moderated by two Kreators, Shimul Ganguly and Urvi Bhatia had Prof. Sabah Siddiqui (Assistant Professor of Psychology), Prof. Vivek Tewary (Assistant Professor of Mathematics), and Prof. Sayantan Datta (Faculty Teaching Associate, CWP) as Keynote Speakers for the same! The theme of the conversation broadly revolved around “Meaningful Allyships” and how institutional biases can be curtailed through informed efforts.
Assisted by free-flowing coffee and snacks from Narasimhulu’s café, the free-flowing conversations entailed an intricate discussion on how we, as students and faculty, view privilege and understand oppression. The candid discussions on how Student Politics has become inherently passive and redundant provoked an introspective dialogue among all the attendees. Sharing their experiences with navigating allyships, the faculty members laid emphasis on instances that molded their viewpoints. Prof. Sayantan also shared an enlightening insight on how incorporating intersectionality in our allyships is what breathes meaning into them. Without intersectionality, any allyship is a performative act of virtue-signalling.
Designed in a way to seek input from both students and faculty, the FCUC (Filtered Coffee, Unfiltered Conversations) session also received a plethora of intriguing inputs and questions from the students. There were mentions of how there’s a lack of solidarity amongst communities as well and discussions about how that can further perpetuate negative stereotypes. All attendees had a dynamic conversation on how meaningful allyships can only be fostered through an informed approach. And in order to build an informed approach, one needs to be open and receptive to the viewpoints of those who are oppressed. Being a good listener and not taking the mic away from minorities sound like obvious qualities, however, they’re the most under-implemented ones too.
The session also delved deeper into the minuscule patterns of behaviour which do end up shaping larger institutional cultures. In order to tackle problems of exclusion, the conversation emphasized on acknowledging the existence of said issue, figuring out a viable approach with its stakeholders and then reaching an informed conclusion. Moreover, figures like Dr. Aparna Raghavan (In-House Counsellor) and Ms. Amanjit Kaur Ahuja (ILS, Krea University) also shared their valuable inputs as to how we all need more sincere attempts to be inclusive. As inclusivity, doesn’t just benefit one demographic in particular, but generates a larger impact for everyone as a whole! The session was truly insightful as it bridged the gap between students and the faculty in the most candid way possible. It also brought up some really uncomfortable topics but with a mature and informed outlook on them. The general consensus was that in order to foster meaningful allyships in their truest sense, we need to adopt an informed approach and not give out haphazard solutions just to engage with issues for the sake of it!