A stimulating environment for students includes one where they can indulge in critical discussions as well as gather insight into world events and daily happenings. A space that instantly comes to mind is the literary collective in colleges—these communities play an important role in bringing together like-minded people who can engage in thought-provoking conversations. To delve deep into how these groups help in making room for free-flowing discussions around issues of social and political importance, we speak to founders of three literary collectives that started at Delhi University.
Going beyond elite circles
With an aim to “dismantle elitism in educational spaces and academic circles”, Deborishi—an MA student at University of Delhi—launched ‘Zariya Collective’ in February, 2022. The group explores both themes and texts outside mainstream literature, i.e. marginalised texts—exploring disability in literature, queer literature, black women’s literature, etc. “Most of the marginalised literature is mostly read, understood, and critically analysed by people who belong to the circle of elite academia. We wanted to go beyond this and democratise marginalised literature for the general masses,” shares Deborishi.
This literary collective organises at least two sessions every month. Each session is moderated by an expert or an individual from the marginalised community. “We try to call upon moderators who would be willing to navigate through the text. For instance, if we are discussing a queer text, we make it a point that a queer person moderates the session,” adds the 24 year old.
Simplifying complex themes
It was after attending a session conducted by another reading circle that undergraduate students Mili from Ramanujan College, Kalkaji, and Varnika from Miranda House, North Campus, were inclined to start their own group. “We had a common ground for learning and thinking about things very deeply; our political scales matched, and there was a similar will to learn and unlearn,” shares Mili. Together, Mili and Varnika run ‘Bekhauf Dilon Ka Kaafila’, a literary collective since September, 2020, where they discuss progressive texts—usually non-fiction—along with videos, movies, poetry, and more. “We want to create a safe space for learning and unlearning. The idea is community reading and understanding ourselves better through the lens of the community.”
Correlating literature with reality
After a discussion on American political philosopher Michael Sandel’s book The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? in January last year, DU alumnus Damni Kain decided to establish ‘The Reading Collective’. “The session got a positive response and I thought maybe we could have more of them,” shares Kain. Focusing on critical literature—anti-caste literature, literature on gender and LGBTQIA+ community, etc.,—Kain attempts to keep discourses around these themes alive through the community. “The collective is not limited to books but everything happening around us is discussed in the sessions. In that sense, the group is very political and it recognises its need to be political.”