What is in a Name? Khwaja Sara, Hijra and Eunuchs in Pakistan

Bibliographic Data

ID12317868
AuthorsShahnaz Khan (0000-0002-3667-9022, Professor of Women & Gender Studies and Global Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada., corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume23
Issue2
Pages218-242
Publication date2016-05-18
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueIndian Journal of Gender Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0971-5215 • E-ISSN: 0973-0672
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0971521516635327
OpenAlexW2395765035
LanguageEN
Citations received17
References cited18

This discussion draws upon research conducted in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad in 2014 with approximately 30 members of trans* 1 communities and examines the historical and contemporary politics of naming and its consequences in British India and contemporary Pakistan. I maintain that the colonial state’s view of these communities coincided with regional reformist attempts to curtail their presence in British India. Their marginalised status was challenged in Pakistan 2 in 2009, however, when the Supreme Court of the country gave these communities political recognition. Changes in their status, however, I argue, do not give trans* individuals full status as citizens of Pakistan. Instead, the state circumvents existing laws such as Section 377 and the Zina Ordinance to give them status as eunuchs with diseased bodies. While the state appears to direct its agencies to bring into the mainstream individuals identified through the sexually ambiguous category of eunuch, the various naming processes have resulted in the entry of individuals with alternative forms of sexualities into the public space where they demand recognition as legal citizens of Pakistan

Colonialism · Criminology · Human sexuality · Mainstream · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Supreme court · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Gender Studies · History · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law