Laughing Matters; Locating Patriarchy in everyday life.

Laughing Matters; Locating Patriarchy in everyday life.

Laughing Matters; Locating Patriarchy in everyday life was a one day reading circle hosted by The Writing Center at Thames International College in collaboration with photo.circle, as part of a longer series of reading circles. Through this initiative, the Writing Center aims to meaningfully utilize photocircle’s reading space and its collection of books while creating a safe and engaging environment for discussion and exchange among participants from the CWIN Kishor Kishori Sanjal.

The two-hour session invited participants to engage with readings and discussions that worked as a starting point for students to explore their understanding and curiosity around patriarchy.. Together they tried to locate patriarchy in their own daily lives trying to understand, name and recognise existing oppressive systems in our society.

Further in the session, the participants interacted with images from Kamla Bhasin and Bindia Thapar's Laughing Matters, using the images as prompts to explore various questions such as:
How is patriarchy embedded in the social institutions that shape our everyday lives? What does it look like in our own communities and experiences? What role does patriarchy play in various contexts? . This became a starting point for the participants to reflect on their own experiences and how patriarchy manifests within their own contexts.