Research: Seeing the Unseen: Visual Representations of Menstruation in Mumbai
Research: Seeing the Unseen: Visual Representations of Menstruation in Mumbai
Valeria Giampietri, Indian Subcontinent and Central Asia Curriculum, 39th Cycle
Abstract of the research project:
In contemporary India, menstruation continues to be perceived as impure and polluting, producing persistent forms of social and religious exclusion. Since the 2000s, the menstruating body has become a site for renegotiating gendered agency. The project aims to identify and analyse visual representations of menstruation in the Mumbai area, examining how artists, activists, and visual culture practices articulate the presence of menstrual blood. Moreover, through participatory methods from visual anthropology, it investigates how individuals of different genders, ages, and socio-cultural contexts make the menstrual phenomenon visible, conceal it, or negotiate its public presence.
Research interests: menstrual studies, gender studies, politics of representation, visual arts, contemporary South Asia
Curriculum Vitae:
11/2023 - today: PhD student in Asian and African Civilizations at the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies (ISO), Sapienza University of Rome
Project Title: Seeing the Unseen: Visual Representations of Menstruation in Mumbai
10/2019 - 03/2022: Master's Degree in Oriental Languages and Civilizations, Sapienza University of Rome
Hindi language curriculum
Thesis title: Menstrual taboos in contemporary Nepal
10/2016 - 09/2019: Bachelor's Degree in Oriental Languages and Civilizations, Sapienza University of Rome
Hindi language curriculum
Thesis title: Homosexuality in Indian literature: the case of the short story Lihāf