Gender and Academic Leadership in Architecture in India Research Symposium, 21-22 March, 2020 Convened by: Madhavi Desai, Anuradha Chatterjee, Kush Patel Host Institution: Avani Institute of Design, Calicut
Call for Papers The research symposium on the topic of Gender and Academic Leadership in Architecture in India will examine the engagement of women and persons of minoritized genders and sexualities in the construction of the academy, architectural knowledge, professional identity, and academic practice. We are cognizant of the under-representation of women, non-binary genders, trans, and queer persons in the profession, especially in leadership positions, and their high attrition rates within the profession. We are interested in the structure and culture of the academy, which has one of the greatest and earliest impacts on the making of the professional. While the academy in India is often viewed as a softer, more flexible, an almost feminized alternative to practicing professionally for women (who have the culturally pre-ordained role of being the primary carer for the family), or a possible safe space for gender minorities and queer persons (whose bodies and knowledges are otherwise invisibilized or violently erased), academic leadership roles have not been always accessible. Additionally, opportunities for training in pedagogy, research scholarship, and leadership for individuals interested in academic careers are limited. Hence, we do not see a lot of Deans, Heads of Departments, and Vice Chancellors who are women and/or queer. But in the last decade or so, and against patriarchal leadership, we are witnessing a change. On the one hand, a lot more women are being appointed as Deans and Heads of Schools in India. And many others are leading change through teaching, as directors of research centers, and with community-engaged academic work. On the other hand, however, the vast majority of these positions are still being held by privileged savarna academics and those with access to intergenerational wealth and social networks, while many others remain in contingent positions or as temporary and part-time hires. Therefore, instead of smugly witnessing the changes in Indian higher education, the symposium intends to critically investigate this leadership phenomena and our current moment. This question is specifically important as more and more women and gender-expansive identities and sexualities join the practice of teaching and as women and minoritized peers continue to increase, or make themselves visible in various courses relating to the built environment in the existing 500 plus institutions that teach architectural courses. In this symposium, we will examine the following interconnected paradoxes. First, a career in academia is seen as a lesser form of labour: it is not seen as practice. Successful practitioners are often treated as highly valued academics, floating in and out of architectural colleges. It is no surprise then that architectural academia is not professionalized. The antiquated expression ‘teaching profession’ should really give way to ‘academic practice,’ a teaching, pedagogic, research, and governance practice, whereby every (intentional / reflective) academic practitioner will delineate their own trajectory through the practice terrain. Second, while women are encouraged to enter architectural academia, and queer and gender minority peers risk to participate in academic life, not a lot of them find their way to the senior leadership positions. Third, despite changes in pay scales over the last ten years and greater institutional transparency in career progression pathways, academia is still not seen as a financially sustainable career. This phenomena may be compounded by the fact that professional design practice is upheld as an only indicator of success, because of which there are many unintentional or undecided academics, who delay the pursuit of the leadership track. The symposium speculates whether these paradoxes are in fact sustained by patriarchal social structures