"In collectivistic societies, an individual's selfhood largely comes from society. When the collective is lost, that is when the trauma is felt." she says.
In conversation about caste, the audience watches a scene from Kumbalangi Nights, a 2019 Indian -Malyalam film. "Everything that is the language of caste is depicted in it." says Professor Vijeta at #WritingWorldsWorldsWriting#NewTextualities2023@sju_english82
"Caste is one of the most functional things in the country. It's doing exactly what it's supposed to - making sure people do not mix so it is not dysfunctional."
She notes that "Nobody analyzes the original text more than fanfiction writers do." They challenge the centre, challenge the canon and that is where fanfiction comes from.
Gautham Shenoy and Vinayak Varma at #WritingWorldsWorldsWriting#NewTextualitues2023 answer a question by replying, "Dystopias come from a place of hope."
Catch the rest of the panel discussion about South Asian speculative fiction!
Lavanya Lakshminarayan on whether she would like to be called a speculative fiction writer: "I personally don't see genre as hard definitive lines. Everything is fluid. Genre defining forces works to conform to certain specifications."