The Department of English and Humanities, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore Campus, organized the release of the book, Gypsy Feminism, Intersectional Politics, Alliances, Gender and Queer Activism, authored by Dr. Laura Corradi, an eco-feminist and anti-racist activist, on 28th December, 2017.
The book release function began with Dr. Geetha Senthilkumar, Associate Professor, Department of English and Humanities, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore, extending a warm welcome to the dignitaries and the audience.
Dr. Chandrasekhar J., Chairperson, Department of Aerospace and Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore and Dr. Harini Jayaraman, Chairperson, Department of English and Humanities, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore, were also present on the occasion. In his presidential address, Dr. Chandrashekhar highlighted some of the major issues confronted by women of Romani and Indian gypsy communities. He then released the first copy of the book, Gypsy Feminism, Intersectional Politics, Alliances, Gender and Queer Activism, published by Routledge Focus, and Dr. Harini Jayaraman received the first copy.
Dr. Harini Jayaraman, in her felicitation, gave a brief summary of the book and cited a few striking aspects of the text.
In her speech, Dr. Laura Corradi, the author, elaborated on the history and migration of the Gypsy communities from India to the West. She mentioned the persecution of the gypsies by Europeans, how they were doubly marginalised, and the violence that gypsy women faced within their own communities and from outside. She concluded her speech by emphasizing that there can be no freedom until women are free and in order to understand Gypsy feminism one must look beyond the Eurocentric theoretical framework.After the release of the book, Dr. Laura Corradi expressed her interest in collaborating with the Department and helping research scholars working in related areas. The programme came to a close with Ms. Subha Viju Menon, Academic Coordinator, proposing the vote of thanks.
The event started with a literary quiz competition, “Quizoscope” and students from different departments participated in the quiz. After a preliminary round, five teams made it to the final. Revathy Shaji and Sanya S., second year students of BA English, Department of English, Coimbatore campus, bagged the first prize, and Gokulnath Nath, second year, Department of Aerospace Engineering, Coimbatore Campus; and Vivek K., second year, B.Tech, Department of Computer Science Engineering, Coimbatore Campus, won the second prize. The winners were awarded cash prizes.
