Hi! I'm Jo

I'm a writer and creator with over 6 years of experience in the non profit, social work and research sectors. I am interested in all things sex, sexuality, gender and how different groups/people experience these wor(l)ds.

I have worked in teams, and have also begun and led projects. I'm currently a PhD candidate of Anthropology and Sociology at SOAS, University of London, a Junior Fellow at the Center for Applied Transgender Studies

and the Co-Editor for Gender and Sexuality in the Global South at KCWA.

Art by Mrinalini Godara; pictured with Inji, my cat.

Advocacy

I work within the intersectional movements and learn heavily from the Transfeminist, Queer, Anti 'Caste', Anti 'Race' and Transformative Justice Movements.

I am currently working as a communications coordinator at the National Network of Sex Workers, a community facilitator with Mithra Trust and occasionally in freelance positions as a writer, facilitator and educator.

Research

My research work adds to and is aligned with the advocacy I am involved in on-ground. I view research as one of the many ways I can add to the movements I am a part of.

My PhD project is on Sex Work, the cyclical nature of violence, both physical gentrification and the gentrification of the mind, as well as leadership in social movements of sex workers.

My larger research interests are in reflective methods, queer theory, film, performance, and structural violence

Jo Krishnakumar 2021

Positionality

I am a trans queer researcher, and my work is informed by my constant learning/unlearning of the privileges I have due to my social location as a dominant/oppressive caste person (Nair) while also occupying space as a (mentally) disabled trans person from South India. I believe that it is always important for people to read my work through the specific spaces that I have occupied so that my work can be an extension of me, and so that I can be responsible for it.

On this page, you will find some of my writing. I use writing as a tool of learning and believe that I need to write more in order to be able to learn more. I do not think there are perfect pieces of writing, or that writing is an output solely that needs to show the best possible parts of myself, which I know and understand as edited parts of my self. I grow through my writing.

My resume is available on request; my site is a sample of work that I would like to display. More details on previous work experience are available on my LinkedIn.