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Podcast: New Books in South Asian Studies
Episode: Navaneetha Mokkil, "Unruly Figures: Queerness, Sex Work, and the Politics of Sexuality in Kerala" (U Washington Press, 2019)
Description: The vibrant media landscape in the southern Indian state of Kerala, where kiosks overflow with magazines and colorful film posters line roadside walls, creates a sexually charged public sphere that has a long history of political protests. The 2014 âKiss of Loveâ campaign garnered national attention, sparking controversy as images of activists kissing in public and dragged into police vans flooded the media. In Unruly Figures: Queerness, Sex Work, and the Politics of Sexuality in Kerala (University of Washington Press, 2019), Navaneetha Mokkil tracks the cultural practices through which sexual figuresâparticularly the sex worker and the lesbianâare produced in the public...