Oorja Gonepavaram, a fourth-year undergraduate student at Mount Allison University, is challenging academic norms by writing a children’s book focused on Buddhism and accepting one’s sexuality within the faith.
The book has drawn attention from an annual international conference called the UCR Conference on Queer and Transgender Studies in Religion. Gonepavaram is scheduled to present her book at the event in February, which will be hosted by the University of California Riverside department of religious studies.
Gonepavaram, who identifies as bisexual, said she was inspired after taking a class on Buddhism and curious to see what the religion thought of homosexuality.
While doing research for a school assignment, she discovered the Buddhist faith allows people to be queer as long as they follow other aspects of the religion.
“You just shouldn’t have any sex while you’re in the Sangha,” Gonepavaram said, referring to the Buddhist community. “… But outside of it, you can do whatever you want, as long as you’re consensual about it.”
She took her findings and used them to write and illustrate a children’s book, titled As You Are, which follows two children: Daniel, a Korean-American and a second-generation Buddhist and Natasha, an African-American and Christian.
The children face challenges surrounding sexuality and identity throughout the story, such as Natasha, who faces backlash when coming out to her parents as a lesbian but later finds acceptance in Buddhism.
Gonepavaram said the book was developed through community-engaged learning and hands-on work in Sackville, N.B., where Mount Allison is located. She learned the impact of children’s books through reading to classes at a local elementary school.
“At that vulnerable and pliable age, they are learning a lot of their stereotypes. They are learning a lot of their ideologies through the children’s books,” Gonepavaram said
Sackville, Gonepavaram said, is becoming more diverse because of the university. She hopes her book can help encourage inclusion and diversity in the small town.
“We wanted to ensure that the future generation has good books and that they’re more inclusive of people around them,” Gonepavaram said.
Although intended for children’s audiences, the book tackles sophisticated ideas. Dani Dempsey, a Mount Allison professor who specializes in Western religions with an emphasis on queer and trans studies, worked with Gonepavaram on the book and credited her for the novel style of presentation.
“It takes pretty complex ideas but explains them in a really accessible way. I think that’s an interesting thing that we’re doing, some of us are doing, in the university setting is also challenging assumptions about what constitutes academic work,” Dempsey said.
Dempsey, who is also a member of the conference’s planning committee, said Gonepavaram’s work is unique as very few works are submitted outside the focus area of North America and Christianity.
“So doing queer and trans studies in Buddhism period is actually really cutting edge,” Dempsey said.
Other professors who have taught Gonepavaram, including Barbra Clayton, a Mount Allison professor and scholar of contemporary Buddhism, encouraged her to continue with the book after using it for course assignments.
“She did a really great job, both in the illustrations, but especially in the writing and I thought that it was something that, you know, was worth pursuing and not sort of just leaving at the end of the course,” Clayton said.
Gonepavarm, who is originally from India, said she struggled to find books that represented the LGBTQ2S+ community while growing up and didn’t come to terms with her own sexuality until high school. She hopes her book can help others find community and acceptance earlier in their lives.
“A lot of the time people feel dissonance with their sexuality and they feel shame around it,” Gonepavaram said. “Buddhist meditative techniques and prayers … They all can help in harbouring self-acceptance of homosexuality and queer identity.”
Gonepavram said she will likely look to publish the book in the future and hopes to pursue further studies on the subject.
“We need more voices like her just out in the world and in an academic setting, so I just hope that she continues to develop this project,” Dempsey said.
Featured image provided by Oorja Gonepavaram.
