This is the third edition of Sangam and Agora, a forum of poets, philosophers, scholars, and auto-didacts. This edition features presentations by the educators (former professors at the School of Media and Cultural Studies at Tata Institute of Social Sciences) and filmmakers Anjali Monteiro and K. P. Jayasankar, who showed excerpts from their film “Saacha” (The Loom) and discussed their work briefly; the Oxford University philosopher, musician, and singer Paul Lodge, who sets music to poems written by philosophers and sings; and the Cherokee Nation poet Kim Shuck, who is also Poet Laureate of San Francisco Emerita. The event was hosted by Vinay Lal, Professor of History at UCLA. The first seven minutes were inadvertently not recorded; we begin with K. P. Jayasankar, and then Anjali Monteiro, talking about their film briefly. What follows then is one long excerpt, around 15 minutes in length, from “Saacha”, and subsequently a shorter excerpts of 3 minutes. As noted previously, Paul Lodge shares some of his work followed by a poetry reading by Kim Shuck.

Dr. Anjali Monteiro and Dr. K.P. Jayasankar are award-winning documentary filmmakers, media researchers, authors, and teachers. Many of their films explore marginalized visions and spaces. They retired as Professors from the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences in 2020. More about their work at www.monteiro-jayasankar.com

Kim Shuck is a lifelong poet and visual artist. These passions have led to interesting places: goblin markets, sea caves, and roadhouses. Shuck is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma and the 7th Poet Laureate of San Francisco emerita.

Paul Lodge is a singer-songwriter, bipolar disorder diagnosee, and professor of philosophy at Oxford University. His academic work has focused on the ideas of G. W. Leibniz.

Grzegorz Kwitakowski is a poet, writer, and musician from Gdańsk and co-host of the Oxford workshop, ‘Virus of Hate’.  He is the author of six volumes of poetry and is the vocalist for the post-rock band Trupa Trupa.

Vinay Lal is a writer, blogger, cultural critic, and Professor of History and Asian American Studies at UCLA.  He blogs at vinaylal.wordpress.com and has a YouTube channel: youtube.com/user/dillichalo