International Workshop “Unfamiliar: Family, Law and Democracy in India”

India International Centre (IIC) Delhi, 3-5 December 2025

Co-Conveners: Dr. Jana Tschurenev, Dr. Razak Khan, ERC Research Group “Democratising the Family? Gender Equality, Parental Rights and Child Welfare in Contemporary Global History” (DEMFAM), Freie Universität Berlin (www.democratsing-the-family.eu); M.S. Merian – R. Tagore International Centre of Advanced Studies “Metamorphoses of the Political” (ICAS:MP), Delhi (https://micasmp.hypotheses.org/about)

 

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Day 1, 03.12.2025

15:00-15:15 Welcome

Jörg Gengnagel / Laila Abu-Er-Rub

15:15-17:00 Towards Shared and Equal Parenting? Contested child custody and guardianship regulations around the world

Chair: Vera Kallenberg 

Jana Tschurenev. Democratising the Family? The Global Career of Shared Parenting Models

Geena Carlisle. Illegitimate Families? Unmarried Motherhood in 1960s and 1970s England & Wales 

Elisa-Maria Hiemer. From Socialism to Democracy: Analysing Media Discourses on Divorce and Single Parents in Poland

Henrique Cintra Santos, Shared Custody and Gender Equality: Global Discourses, Local Dilemmas

17:00-17:45 Tea & Coffee

17:45-19:00 Keynote

Srimati Basu. “My Child, Do You Know Your Papa Exists?” The Currency of Fatherhood in Men’s Rights Discourse in Contemporary India

Chair: Jana Tschurenev

19:30 Dinner at IIC

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Day 2, 04.12.2025

09:30-11:00 Family and the Law – Colonial Legacies, Postcolonial Histories

Chair: Tanika Sarkar

Razak Khan. Begums in Kachehri: Family, Law and Colonial Paramountcy in Muslim Princely States

Saumya Saxena. ‘Virtuous wives and happy homes.’ Hindu Marriage Act and the Making of Modern Indian Nation State

 

11:00-11:30 Tea & Coffee

11:30-13:00 Dalit and Adivasi Configurations of Law and the Family

Chair: Prathama Banerjee

Smita Patil. Rearticulating Dalit Readings on Law and Family

Devika Bordia. The Betrayal of the Empowered Sorts: Emergency Rule, Kinship, and Judgement among Bhils and Girassias in Rajasthan

 

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-15:30 The Politics of the State, Parenting and Adoption

Chair: Uma Chakravarti

Seema Kazi. Liminal Spaces: Half widows, orphans and law in Kashmir

Deepali Datta. From Last Resort to Preferred Choice: Exploring the Landscape of Adoption Legislation in India

 

15:30-16:00 Tea & Coffee

 

16:00-18:00 Roundtable “Women and Law: Perspectives from the Southern States”

Chair: Mary John

J. Devika. Protecting the Child from its Parents? Family, Child, and State in Contemporary Kerala

Suneetha Achyutha. On Legal Recognition of Khula

Poorna Ravishankar. Intersecting Injustices: Patriarchy, Policing, and Law

19.30 Dinner at IIC

 

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Day 3, 05.12.2025

09:30-11:00 Muslim Women, Law and Property

Chair: Razak Khan

Mahmood Kooria. Contested Lineages: Charity and Legal Authority among Matrilineal Muslims

Alina Naqvi.Reading Waqfnamas: Considering the Economic Agency of Muslim Women in North India

 

11:00-11:30 Tea & Coffee

11:30-13:00 Muslim Women and Indian Democracy

Chair: Hilal Ahmed

Shahrokh Alam. Through the Looking Glass darkly: Law as Saviour for Muslim Women

Nazima Parveen.Reform, Resistance, and Representation: Muslim Women in the Democratic Space

 

13:00-14:00 Lunch

14:00-15:30 The Other Minority: Gay, Lesbian and Trans Children's Rights in Family Law

Chair: Nivedita Menon

Hasina Khan. Invisible Citizens: Queer Muslims and the Gaps in the Personal Law Debate

Koyel Ghosh. The Unsafe Haven: Understanding Natal Family Violence, Minority Stress, and Material Harm Experienced by Queer and Trans Individuals and the Need for Recognition of Chosen Kinship

 

15:30-16:00 Tea & Coffee

 

16:00-17:45 Roundtable “Muslim Women Activism and Associations”

Chair: Zoya Hasan

Sayeeda Hameed (Muslim Women’s Forum, Delhi)

Sehba Farooqui (AIDWA, Delhi)

Khadeeja Mumthaz (Muslim Women Gender Justice Forum, Kozikode)

17:45-18:30 Final Discussion