Teaching Gender by Lifting the Lihaf: Chughtai for Our Times

This paper explores the possibility of pedagogical practices for a critical analysis of gender and sexuality through teaching Literature. In the last twenty years there has been a sea change in the perception of gender and sexuality due to feminist and gay movements which has resulted in a corresponding burgeoning body of academic work. It is crucial to locate this work in the pervasive patriarchy in which the site of the classroom exists. This can only be interrogated through tools of critical inquiry. Ismat Chughtai’s ‘Lihaf’, published in 1942, is a useful text to teach through interactive discussions a spectrum of issues such as patriarchy, homosexuality, heteronormativity, child sexuality, and sexual abuse.