Thirteenth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

The Dalit Queer Project is a collaborative space that attempts to generate communities to support Dalit-Queer Individuals in online and physical spaces. Dalit-Queer Individuals mostly face the double burden of being former untouchables and criminalized by the state and society for their sexual orientation. The first generation of self-identifying Dalit-Queers is changing things and adapting to various spaces (academia, art sector, politics) hitherto denied to them using their lived experiences to inform their practice. These experiences shaped by caste and queerness have much to offer to our universal understanding of socio-economic systems, cultures and human dignity, as they derive from communities always placed at the bottom. This paper highlights how this movement that is integral to understanding the formations and functioning of South Asian societies is bringing out emerging perspectives to challenge the normative.