Ravi Sankaran Fellowships in India

From Fundsforngos.org

The Ravi Sankaran Fellowships is a biodiversity conservation initiative of Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation for young persons who have a passion for wildlife. The fellowships provide an opportunity for selected young persons to use their energy and skills to make a difference to biodiversity conservation in India.

1. The Program funds three major activities:
2. A Master’s degree at a university abroad
3. An internship with an organisation abroad

A short conservation research or implementation project within India (in a Small Grants program)

Fellowship recipients will receive a stipend, travel funds and an amount covering course fees (where relevant). The Small Grants activity provides funding up to a maximum of Rs 200,000 per year.

Each activity is intended to have an explicit conservation focus, with an emphasis on clear on-ground conservation benefits. Successful applicants will ordinarily hold a Bachelor’s degree (in any discipline) and be below the age of 30 on the date of the application deadline. Applicants must hold Indian nationality.

The deadline to submit applications is 15 April 2011.

Donate to WAVE through Culture Unplugged

'Humanity Explored' is the film festival where we gather and explore ‘interconnectedness’ or ‘oneness’ by remembering what fundamental emotions, needs and dreams unite us, and question/contemplate the divisive perception of ‘otherness’. At this festival, we celebrate our collective humane evolution by contemplating the contemporary cultures & societies, through cinema. Please feel free to invite & welcome the viewers, the fellow citizens, our brothers & sisters at : http://www.cultureunplugged.com

Upon watching your film/message, joyous & inspired, people may wish to know more about you or contribute financial support to your film or its social cause. To share with the audience your personal story/aspirations and receive contributions from the audience, we request you to visit :
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/storyteller/WAVE

Culture Unplugged festival team truly thanks you and feels grateful for the kind engagement on this mission by all film-makers and organizations. Together, we support our individual talent and collective voice, facilitate further democratization of film/media dissemination, raise our collective consciousness and contribute to humanity, with this festival.

Internship at Magic Lantern Delhi

Dear all,
Magic Lantern Foundation is a registered not-for-profit and has been working with culture and human rights since 1989. Currently we are readying for two film festivals in New Delhi.
We are looking for two interns to start work immediately.

Interns will:
1. Assist with festival related tasks
2. Mange Magic Lantern's social media and websites
3. Hold workshops in colleges on the documentary practice as an invitation to the film festival
4. Help in general administration.
5. Assist in writing and creating festival related publicity material.
6. Coordinate festival logistics - from construction to hospitality
7. Assist in on-going projects.
8. Assist with edits of trailer, and other festival material

We are looking for post graduates and above in any liberal arts subjects. Familiarity with the FCP is desirable but not mandatory.

Magic Lantern doesn't pay interns. If interested please write to: magiclantern.foundation@gmail.com with 'internship' as the subject line and with CV attached.

thanks,
Gargi Sen

---------
Magic Lantern Foundation
J 1881 Chittaranjan Park, Basement, New Delhi 110019
P: +(91 11) 26273244/ 41605239
E: magiclantern.foundation@gmail.com
W: http://magiclanternfoundation.org | http://www.ucfilms.in

Individual Female Power in Collectivist Patriarchal Cultures: Across Oceans

I thought of Scarlet O'Hara the moment I put my foot inside the early twentieth century Umar Hayat Mahal (The Palace of Umar Hayat). The palace is located in Pakistan in Chiniot, a small town famous for its architecture and intricate wood work, a celebration of the local unsung and unmatched artists.

True to the vibes, the local guide informed me that Umar Hayat, a wealthy businessman and landowner, had married a prostitute (the guide did not know her name), and that he built the palace on the wish of his wife, the prostitute.

It was striking to notice two women of the same era, one real, one fictitious, geographically and culturally poles apart, yet sharing the same story. Scarlet was born a lady with the heart of a prostitute, was called a prostitute, and despised as a prostitute by the respectable females of her society. Mrs. Umar Hayat was born a prostitute, worked as a prostitute, and managed to achieve wealth, name, recognition, and respect though marriage. It was unheard of for women of Scarlet's stature to enter into the world of business. It was unheard of for women of Mrs. Hayat's station to marry into aristocracy.

True to the narrative, Mrs. Umar Hayat lost her husband to death soon after her magnificent house was finished. Scarlet also lost Rhett at the height of her wealth, though not to death. Scarlet and Rhett's only daughter died young and happy in a horse riding accident. Scarlet was left to mourn her demise alone in spite of Rhett's love for her. The Hayat family's only son died in the palace, young and happy on his wedding night, and Mrs. Umar Hayat mourned alone.

As interesting as it is to notice the similarities between these two women, it is even more interesting to explore the challenges of contradictions within their personalities. On the one hand, despite living in a man's world, they had the audacity and sense of self to look at themselves as people who had every right to possess power. Yet, they were acutely aware of their feminine charms and used them to their advantage. They instinctively understood the submissive position of women in their respective societies. Yet, they also understood the cooption of fellow females to patriarchy. They made alliances with men and gained dominance over men and women alike. They turned the collectivism of their societies on its head for their advantage. While they enjoyed the relative protection that collective society gave to women, they ignored public opinion when it did not suite their desires.

More Democratandchronicle.com

Women's rights in Pakistan

From 'The Dawn' website

By Amna Imam

“WHY has Pakistan not seen a strong feminist movement that is at par with that seen in the West?” a friend asked me. “After all, the country`s women are routinely subjugated, humiliated, violated or killed. Why have we not been able to produce and sustain a strong movement?”

It is true that on the one hand, tradition, culture and religion together served to relegate women to serfdom. Yet on the other hand, they have also empowered Pakistani women.

Pakistani society lives with this apparent contradiction day in and day out. This contradiction, perhaps, is the key to understanding the absence of a strong, unified feminist movement in the country. Though predominantly Muslim, Pakistan is extremely diverse not only in its ethnicities, languages and cultures but also in its norms and value systems. The lines demarcating the value system of empowered women from subjugated women might at times, but not always, correspond to the urban-rural divide in Pakistan.

Public policy in Pakistan under liberal regimes has attempted to provide some relief and rights to women. The laws regarding child marriage, divorce, men`s second or subsequent marriages, the First Women`s Bank, women`s seats in parliament, and the recent bill regarding the protection of women against harassment while at work have all been well-intentioned steps aimed at enhancing the status of Pakistani women.

Although it is still too early to say anything about effectiveness of the anti-harassment law, other laws and public policy initiatives have so far been largely ineffective. Policy implementation, although dependent on policy formulation, is also a function of interpretation. In the generally devout Pakistani society, which values its Islamic identity, the respective positions of women in various Pakistani cultures can be attributed to the various interpretations of Islam as well as various levels of implementation of Islamic tenets within diverse communities. Although there are differences of opinion about how much a Muslim woman can inherit, for example, Islamic scholars agree unanimously that they do have that right.

The level of implementation of this key empowering right in predominantly Muslim Pakistan varies from community to community, tribe to tribe, and family to family. Muslim women in some Pakistani communities enjoy this right to the fullest, in others women are given this right partially, and in still others, women are not given this right at all. The same applies to a woman`s right to choose her husband. In some Pakistani communities, women enjoy this right while in others the choice of a husband for a Muslim woman rests with her closest male relatives. This diversity of interpretation can at least partially be attributed to the lack of implementation of pro-women public policies in Pakistan. While these two rights of choice and inheritance do not guarantee equal status for women in society, arguably they do bestow enough power on women to quiet the flames of intense dissatisfaction with their status. In a society where the body of women is as diverse as in Pakistan, it is highly unlikely that all women will be similarly motivated to start or support a strong, unified feminist movement.

Unlike the West, where once none of the women had the right of inheritance, and where no woman could own property in her name, Pakistani society is a mosaic of rights and obligations. Some women have power, others do not. This explains, at least to some extent, the inception of strong sisterhood and feminism in the West and other homogeneous cultures, and the relative absence of the same unified force in Pakistan.

We cannot expect a highly educated, middle-class woman from Karachi or Islamabad who chose her husband, probably works, and will inherit property to have the same level of intense feeling of deprivation as a poor, rural Pakistani woman. The latter would in all probability not be free to choose her partner, would not receive any education, and would be subjected to her community`s laws and regulations about property rights. If religion can on the one hand be held responsible for such subjugation, then it can also be seen as the empowering element preventing other, more empowered women from whole-heartedly joining their suffering sisters.

It is, therefore, no surprise that Pakistan can simultaneously lay claim to Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, Lady Abdullah Haroon, Begum Shaista Ikramullah, and to Mukhtaran Mai, Samia Sarwar, and Safia Bibi. The cultural divide is in most cases a manifestation of the socio-economic divide. However, this is not always the case. The roots of these differences lie deeper, in family and community practices, interpretations and beliefs.

Due to this diversity, it is perhaps mistaken to expect a strong, unified feminist movement in Pakistan. It is also a mistake for Pakistan to look to either Islam or national-level public policies to uplift the status of its female citizens. National policy, civic organisations and NGOs dedicated to the cause of women`s rights in Pakistan can spend ages trying to modify the laws; however, those laws cannot be implemented at the grassroots level until they gain local acceptance. The law regarding child marriage is an example. Although a woman cannot be married until she is at least 16 years of age, it is a well-known fact that underage marriages are still a norm in many communities, tribes and families of Pakistan.

Policy makers and NGOs in Pakistan might benefit from a slight shift in how they view this issue. Feminism in Pakistan is a local issue of local communities. Only empowered women and progressive men from within those communities can be expected to make a difference. The change would have to come with education and awareness from within.

The writer is an assistant professor of public administration at the State University of New York and a board member for the Women`s Interfaith Institute of the Finger Lakes, NY.

Article about WAVE videoblogger Kalki's own video training program in Chennai (thanks to Women's Feature Service)

India: The Celluloid Dreams of Transgenders

By Hema Vijay

Chennai (Women's Feature Service) - They are seen as people who harass pedestrians on the streets, collect money by threatening people, kidnap kids, engage in sex work, and so on. But these stereotypes do little justice to transgenders. Like everybody else, they can be dynamic litterateurs, creative artists and, above all, socially committed individuals.

Nine moving documentaries by transgenders networking with the Chennai-based Sahodari Foundation shatter vicious myths and clear misconceptions caused by ignorance. These films provide a glimpse into the real world and minds of transgenders, the sorrow and joys that they experience, the traumas they go through, the ideas and ambitions they harbour. Interestingly, not all these films focus on transgender issues. It is as if the young filmmakers are silently saying: 'Our gender is not our only identity; we are as interested in the rest of the world, as anybody else'.

The documentaries were filmed for over a period of five months in Chennai by Sandhya Chandru, Sandhya, Soundarya, Gomathi, Abinaya, Manu, Monal, Kanchana, and Kalki, a transgender activist and the founder director of Sahodari Foundation, that works for transgender issues. In fact, the documentary film project is Kalki's brainchild, sparked off during a workshop 'Women Aloud: Videoblogging for Empowerment (WAVE)' conducted in Pune last year by filmmakers Sapna Shahani and Angana Jhaveri. Kalki was given a small Canon Legria FS 200 handycam to make a film every month on community issues. She made five short films. Among them was 'Sisters on the street: A day in the life of two transgender women', a five-minute film on the sexual harassment transgenders face when they go begging. The film received a good response, and Kalki realised the importance of video documentation as a tool of empowerment. That was when she decided to teach video documenting to others at Sahodari as well.

So, armed with a camcorder, which the group shared between themselves, they made films on issues that touched their hearts. This was an opportunity for them to speak out and be heard. And what is seen and heard through these celluloid stories brings a tear to the eye and a smile to the lips all at once. "These films would be an eye opener for many. They deserve to be screened at international film festivals," says Tara Navneeth, a social activist and artist based in Chennai, who has been campaigning for rights of sexual minorities.

Sandhya's film 'Odukkappatta Aatmakal' (Abandoned Souls) is about the plight of abandoned elderly persons. She says, "I want to start my own old age home." Abinaya, who happens to be a classical dancer, brings to our view through 'Ippadikku Abinaya' (This is Abinaya), the talents possessed by transgenders that go untapped and ignored by the world. Sandhya Chandru's film 'Kadal Nanbargal' (Sea Friends) explores the life of fisherfolk. Monal's film is on garbage pickers; Gomathi's on the street children whom she sees every day on her way to work.

In 'Nambikkai' (Faith), Kanchana trains her lens on the plight of the physically challenged. Says she, "My mother wanted a girl, and so when I was born, she raised me as a girl. When I was about five, they decided to raise me as a boy, and tried to crop my hair. Until then I wore pig-tails. But my mind was set on girlish things. Then my uncle tried to force me into sex. I ran away from home, and was rescued by Childline and lodged at the Don Bosco Anbu Illam in Chennai. Although the chief Pastor there was very kind to me, I was humiliated again by teachers and others, and I ran away and fended for myself." Now, Kanchana makes a living as a dancer.

The other films in this project are about the difficulties the community as a whole inevitably faces. Soundarya's film, 'My Mother', is on the hardships of abandoned transgender kids. "As a child I was a rank holder at school, but ridiculed by the family, my father especially. My uncle tried to force me into having sex with him, but when I complained to my father he only whipped me and put the blame on me. I was 14 then. I ran away, was raped by drug addicts on the street and now, after so many years of trauma, I am here doing a responsible job thanks to the Sahodari Foundation. Most transgenders are abandoned by their families, and are forced to run away and fend for themselves on the streets. Parents need counselling first. If parents are sensitised, transgenders would not be left on the streets and become victims or perpetrators of street crimes," says Soundarya Gopi. Agrees Kalki, who incidentally has two Masters' degrees - one in journalism and mass communication and the other in international relations, "Despite my education, I have been discriminated against at school, university, profession... by friends, by relatives... It made me shudder to think of the plight of those who are uneducated, who come from villages and small towns."

Can things ever change for them? "The ordinary person can do a lot to salvage the situation by just being non-discriminatory; and by offering acceptance. It's really that simple," she says.

Meanwhile, Kalki's 'Punnagai' (Smile) is a happy film, filled with moments of joy on the faces of these women. "We have been ridiculed, harassed, tortured, tormented and laughed at. My film shows that despite all this we still retain our smile." Manu's film, too, is very sensitive and gracefully narrated. It tells the story about how she re-established contact and renewed friendship with two childhood friends after leaving home to get her sex change operation done and returning to Chennai. "My friends and their families have accepted me, and I treasure this friendship," she says.

Efforts are on to showcase the films in other cities, and at film festivals around the world. This documentary film project is not the culmination of a process but hopefully the beginning of bigger things. Sahodari will be training these six women and other interested transgenders in multimedia skills like photography, videography, film editing, audio and sound, internet and web media technologies. By 2011, the Foundation plans to start a training and production house for visual media and communication, an education project for transgenders that would also be open to under-privileged students from other communities too.

"People feel sorry for the physically challenged, they accept drunkards, but they ridicule and torment people challenged by gender issues. We didn't choose to be this way. God created us like this," says Soundarya. It is because transgenders are denied education and employment that some of them are driven into begging, crime and prostitution, Tara Navneeth adds.

These sensitive and intelligent films will, hopefully, go some way in changing social responses, that remains apathetic at best and abusive at worst, towards transgenders in India.

(To know more on Sahodari Foundation's work log on to http://www.sahodari.org)

My relationship with India: It's complicated (journal entry written for WorldPulse.com)

When I think about my relationship with India, I think of the Facebook relationship status ‘It’s complicated’. But like other complicated relationships, I feel like I’ve weathered the ups and downs in recent years, and am now sailing in less stormy waters.

On the one hand, there is no shortage of attitudes to dislike, especially as a woman: being discouraged from playing the more enjoyable ‘boy’ games, getting a ‘bad reputation’ when I used to stay out late dancing as a teenager, being molested several times and then learning from girlfriends that was a common experience, or being stared at by men in public constantly for wearing ‘Western clothes’ which I believe has lead to my often feeling asexual as an adult. The list would get much longer if I talked about politics, Bollywood, or our hierarchical society.

On the other hand, I returned to live in India after nine years in the US because I appreciate our generally warm nature (getting a government official to grant a minor favour through an emotional appeal), our deeply spiritual roots (reflected in my grandfather’s iron-clad ethics), the mind-boggling diversity of cultures to experience across the country, and our delectable food!

After spending some time back home in Bombay and contemplating the dislikes far more than the likes, I realized that I could only be happy if I committed my life to changing the things that most of the people I spoke to dislike. Now it makes me feel better every time I experience an instance of sexism that I run a social venture that empowers women.

But to speak more of the things I would like to change, here is my laundry list:
- Being made to feel ashamed for smoking a cigarette as a woman.
- Being considered XXL at size 16 (US) and having salesmen always tell me as I enter a store, “Madam, we have clothes in YOUR size also”.
- A general intolerance towards dating even though every Hindi movie glorifies romance, which leads to a general social awkwardness between young men and women.
- Being considered ‘past it’ as a single woman over 30.
- Feeling unsafe traveling alone in Delhi (our capital city!) at night.
- Having only one female Member of the Legislative Assembly in the state where I live.
- People assuming I am a bad driver because I am a woman.

I am interested in discussion and theoretical research about changing core social attitudes that cause sexist behaviour in countries like India where patriarchal beliefs are deeply embedded and dissent is discouraged. Since I work in the field of media for social change, I am particularly interested in case studies about successful gender justice media campaigns such as the 'Pink Chaddi' movement. Please comment if you know of case studies, research, writings, etc in this area.