Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. 236 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

1. "Hijra are a publicly institutionalized subculture of feminine identified male bodied people in South Asia who secretly desire 'masculine' men and identify themselves as non-men. Based on ethnographic research in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, this book contends that hijra bring into view an alternative entry point into understanding and explaining the production, reproduction and transformation of masculinities. This book proposes the hijra as a counter-cultural formation that embodies not only a direct contrast to hegemonic patterns of masculinity but also as an alternative subculture offering the possibility of varied forms of erotic pleasures and practices otherwise forbidden in mainstream society. While most studies view hijras as an asexual, emasculated, third sex/gender, this book calls into question the phallocentric logic that obscures alternative sites and sources of bodily power and pleasure, emphasizing how hijras craft their own subject position. Ethnographically rich and theoretically engaged, this book will cause a new, global reexamination of both hijras in particular and the wider range of 'male femininities' in general"--

Subject

1. Gender-nonconforming people > Bangladesh
2. Masculinity > Bangladesh
3. Sex role > Bangladesh
4. Gender identity > Bangladesh
5. Masculinité > Bangladesh
6. Rôle selon le sexe > Bangladesh
7. Identité sexuelle > Bangladesh
8. SOCIAL SCIENCE / Gender Studies
9. Gender identity
10. Gender-nonconforming people
11. Masculinity
12. Sex role
13. Bangladesh

Contents

1. Introduction: pleasure, power and masculinities -- Kinship, community and hijragiri -- Class-cultural politics and the making of hijras -- Hijra erotic subjectivities: pleasure, practice and power -- The paradox of emasculation -- Practices and processes of gendering -- Love and emotional intimacy: hijra entanglement with normative Bangla men -- Contemporary transformation of hijra subjectivities -- Conclusion: shifting meaning and the future of hijras.

Owning institution

1. Princeton University Library

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 215-223) and index.