Impossible Bangladeshis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13087726 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rasel Ahmed (0009-0006-5550-2640, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 507-519 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | TSQ Transgender Studies Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2328-9252 • E-ISSN: 2328-9260 |
| Publisher | Duke University Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1215/23289252-11925107 |
| OpenAlex | W7133559600 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 6 |
This article examines how queer/trans citizenship in Bangladesh is negotiated and reimagined through cultural production, focusing on the author's 2024 short film Who Killed Taniya? The film is inspired by a 2016 terrorist attack that killed two LGBTQ+ activists in Bangladesh and forced the author into exile. But instead of re-creating this incident, the film employs strategic misidentification through two key approaches: first, through autofictional script-writing that transforms this historical violence into a critical exploration of citizenship's systemic failures; second, through production design that stages Bangladesh in New York City, challenging fixed notions of authentic national space. Drawing from postcolonial queer theory, critical image theory, and studies of nationalism, this essay demonstrates how contemporary queer cultural production can both document histories of violence and imagine new possibilities for belonging beyond colonial citizenship practices. By analyzing both the impossibility and reimagining of queer/trans citizenship, the author's research contributes to broader discussions about sexuality's overlapping and intricate relationship with practices of national belonging in postcolonial contexts
Citizenship · Colonialism · Governmentality · Impossibility · Key (lock · Queer · Terrorism · Bangladesh Politics, Society, and Development · South Asian Cinema and Culture · South Asian Studies and Diaspora
| Highly cited | No |
|---|