Spirit Companion: Pufferfish

Akanksha is queer feminist activist and researcher with a Bachelors in English Literature and a Masters in Womens’ Studies. Their academic research has been focused on contemporary histories of queer politics in India, gender non-conformity in higher educational spaces, healthcare discrimination based on non-normative genders and sexualities and the role of ‘queering’ methodology when doing research with ‘one’s own community’. Over the last 5 years, they have worked on developing feminist Monitoring and Evaluation approaches and frameworks for feminist organizations in India and most recently on building a youth-led coalition to improve young people’s access to Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights. Akanksha is a member of autonomous feminist and queer feminist movements in India and bring an intersectional lens rooted in learnings from Dalit feminist thought and activism to their work. They love reading feminist science fiction, dancing and spending time with their cats. When they are not drinking a cup of coffee, they most likely exploring a new beverage.