The Permission to Re(Define) | Arnav Ghai | TEDxStrawberry Fields High School

Permission to Re(Define) traces the “permission slip” across accent, embodied expression and academic identity. Through personal anecdotes, Fricker’s epistemic injustice and Goffman’s theory of stigma, it attempts to expose how an arbitrary idea of “normal” disciplines us into shrinking and conforming. The talk ultimately rejects that bargain, reclaiming self-definition as an act of defiance. At 17, Arnav Ghai is a recent IBDP graduate and an incoming engineering student whose interests span ideation, storytelling and performance. A published researcher and enthusiastic creative writer with years of theatre experience, he is deeply interested in doodling margin cartoons, befriending dogs, watching canonical coming-of-age movies, and understanding how identity is shaped in various socio-cultural contexts. Drawing on personal experience, in his talk Arnav examines how ‘normality’ is constructed and internalised, and what becomes possible when we reclaim the authority to define ourselve This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx