The most powerful combination there is- joy, rage, solidarity, and love. That’s how we fight and that’s how we thrive. 🏳️‍⚧️ #transrightsarehumanrights

Newham came together today to say hate will not be welcome here. We stand together in solidarity united in our diversity. Following the defacement of our 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍🌈 flags we have installed new lamppost wraps. Proud of my Newham community. What a joyous day

Some professional news. I joined LSE on Monday. Really excited to join such an inspiring and collegial department doing cutting edge critical research in the field. Can’t wait to meet my new students in a couple of weeks!

Had a few wonderful days in Montreal attending the ASA where I presented some ongoing research. One of the things I love about these conferences is not just connecting with old friends but also listening to new cutting edge research which really excites & renews me.
The theme intersectional solidarities: building communities of hope, justice & joy seemed so timely given everything happening around us. Spending time with fellow feminist & queer scholars really brought much joy & hope

It has been such joy to write this article with Nazli Alimen based on a Royal Society of Edinburgh funded project. We had great fun exploring South Asian fashion retail stores on Cathcart Road, Glasgow. We discuss the role of South Asian fashion retail as forms of community making & belonging. We are glad it found a home with Social Identities. The review process was long & frustrating at times but so glad we stuck with it. Available open access: https://doi.org/10.1080/13504630.2024.2382865

The Cass report is methodologically flawed & not worth the paper it is written on. It fails to de-pathologise trans lives & makes life even harder for trans people. It is literally being used now to attack adult trans clinics. It doesn’t centre trans voices yet again. It excludes trans academics & clinicians. Just look at the media reporting! I don’t care what government ministers have to say. I for one will never stop fighting for trans rights 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

Provided an update on our cultural strategy today. Whilst we might have lost out on becoming the London Borough of culture, our ambition for culture as means of progressive change remains as high as ever. I am pleased that we have published our bid which will be a blueprint of our cultural programming and determination to harness the power of culture for inward investment & changing people’s lives. Newham is London’s beating heart of culture.

Absolutely loved Misha Chowdhury’s Public obscenities. What a beautiful production. The sets, the familiar sounds of Kolkata, Bengali family drama & underlying it a sharp critique of middle class dominant caste Bengali respectability politics told through the story of a queer Bengali boy visiting ‘home’ with his boyfriend as he grapples with his PhD project. I laughed at the academic jokes & untranslatable Bengali banter. Left with lots of unanswered questions but that was the point right!

Had a wonderful time at CARGC as a visiting faculty fellow. Thanks so much for inviting me, Prof Aswin Punathambekar. Privileged to have been in conversation with some amazing scholars shaping the field in such interesting & critical ways.

I am pleased to join the Journal of Creative Communications (Sage) as Associate Editor today. I am really keen to support scholarship on creative industries & queer media. Check out our submission guidelines here: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/crc