Radical Vulnerability: Development, Translation, Justice --A Book Discussion with Professor Richa Nagar

About the book: How might scholars ethically participate in producing knowledge in ways that connect across different meanings of struggle, hunger, hope, and the good life? Informed by over two decades of learning moments from a co-authored journey with the Sangtin Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (SKMS) in Sitapur and Parakh Theatre in Mumbai, Radical Vulnerability bridges these divides with a fresh approach to academic theorising. Reflecting on her collaborations with activists, theatre artistes, writers and students, Richa Nagar discusses building embodied alliances among those who occupy different locations in predominant hierarchies. Such alliances can sensitively engage difference through a kind of full-bodied immersion and ethical translation, and make knowledges more humble, more tentative, and more alive to the creativity of struggle.

Author's Bio: Richa Nagar is an academic and author. She is the inaugural Gloria Steinem ’56 Endowed Chair in Women and Gender Studies at Smith College. Her scholarship, writing and cultural work, in English and Hindustani, refuse the borders of academia, arts and activism. Her books include Muddying the Waters: Coauthoring Feminisms across Scholarship and Activism, and she has co-authored Sangtin Yatra and Playing with Fire: Feminist Thought and Activism through Seven Lives in India, with Sangtin Writers. Her work has been translated into German, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Marathi, Turkish and Urdu.