Mithu Sanyal "Decolonize your body" moderiert von Leyla Jagiella

In the organizer's words:

EN
Mithu Sanyal will explore the question of how colonialism has influenced sexuality. Especially in relation to India's colonial past under British rule, when homosexuality was criminalized by law. Together with presenter Leyla Jagiella, the panel will examine how Hinduism and Islam deal with different sexual identities.

Mithu Melanie Sanyal was born in Düsseldorf in 1971 to Indian and Polish parents. She is an author, cultural scientist and journalist specializing in feminism, racism, pop culture and post-colonialism. She studied German and English at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf and completed her doctorate at the same university on the cultural history of female genitalia. Her dissertation resulted in the 2009 book "Vulva", a study on the historical and cultural changes in the meaning of female sex. In her research into the history of the vulva, she comes across both almost sacred appreciation and hate-filled defamation in forgotten sources.

Leyla Jagiella is an ethnologist, religious theorist and writer. As an independent expert on gender and sexuality, she has been a trans* activist for many years and holds workshops and lectures in Germany, Great Britain, Pakistan and South Africa. As an employee of the Muslim Academy Heidelberg, she is also project manager of the Jewish-Muslim Cultural Days in Heidelberg. Most recently, she published the monograph "Among the Eunuchs. A Muslim Transgender Journey", published in 2021 by Hurst Publishing, London. She has also published articles, essays and other contributions in Critical Muslim, Publik-Forum, Qamar Magazine, ZEIT Geschichte and others.

EN
Mithu Sanyal will delve into how colonialism has influenced sexuality, specifically in the context of India's colonial past under British rule, where homosexuality was criminalized through legal measures. Joined by moderator Leyla Jagiella, they will investigate how Hinduism and Islam navigate diverse sexual identities.

Mithu Melanie Sanyal was born in 1971 in Düsseldorf to Indian and Polish parents. She is a writer, a cultural scientist, and journalist specializing in feminism, racism, pop culture, and post-colonialism. She studied German and English literature at Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf and continued her studies with a doctorate on the Cultural History of the Female Genitalia at the same university. Her doctoral thesis resulted in the 2009 book "Vulva", which serves as an investigation of the study on the vulva, on the historical and cultural change in the meaning of female gender. Her search on the history of vulva leads her to her findings on both almost sacred appreciation and hate-filled defamation in forgotten sources.

Leyla Jagiella is an ethnologist, religion theorist and author. As an independent expert on gender and sexuality, she has been a trans* activist for many years and holds workshops and lectures in Germany, Great Britain, Pakistan and South Africa. In addition, she is project manager of the Jewish-Muslim Cultural Days in Heidelberg as an employee of the Muslim Academy Heidelberg. Her most recently published monograph is "Among the Eunuchs. A Muslim Transgender Journey", published in 2021 by Hurst Publishing, London. She has also published articles, essays and other contributions in Critical Muslim, Publik-Forum, Qamar Magazine, ZEIT Geschichte and others.