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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12317868
AutoresShahnaz Khan (0000-0002-3667-9022, Professor of Women & Gender Studies and Global Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada., autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume23
Fascículo2
Páginas218-242
Data de publicação2016-05-18
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoIndian Journal of Gender Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0971-5215 • E-ISSN: 0973-0672
EditoraSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0971521516635327
OpenAlexW2395765035
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas17
Referências citadas18

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