Governing Gender and Sexuality in Colonial India - The Hijra, C.1850-1900

Examines the colonial and postcolonial governance of gender and sexuality through the history of transgender Hijras in north India.

List of contents

Introduction; Part I. Solving the 'Eunuch Problem': 1. The Hijra panic; 2. An ungovernable population; 3. Hijras and Indian middle class morality; 4. The 'gradual extirpation' of the Hijra; Part II. Multiple Narratives of Hijra-Hood: 5. The Hijra archive; 6. Hijra life histories; Part III. Surviving Criminalisation and Elimination: 7. Classifying illegible bodies, contesting colonial categories; 8. Policing, evading, surviving; 9. Saving children to eliminate Hijras; 10. Conclusion; 11. Postscript: Hijras and the state in postcolonial South Asia.

About the author

Jessica Hinchy is Assistant Professor in History at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

Summary

Jessica Hinchy examines the colonial and postcolonial governance of gender and sexuality through the history of transgender Hijras in north India. She argues that gender, sexual and cultural practices were criminalised not simply through imported British norms, but due to a complex set of local factors, including elite Indian attitudes.

Product details

• Authors: Jessica Hinchy, Jessica (Nanyang Technological University Hinchy
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.07.2019
• EAN: 9781108492553
• ISBN: 978-1-108-49255-3
• No. of pages: 322
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Indien, 19. Jahrhundert (1800 bis 1899 n. Chr.), Sozial- und Kulturgeschichte, Kolonialismus und Imperialismus, Geschichte allgemein und Weltgeschichte, Asiatische Geschichte, Social & cultural history, India, c 1800 to c 1900, Colonialism & imperialism, Later 19th century c 1850 to c 1899, Social and cultural history, Colonialism and imperialism, Asian History, HISTORY / Asia / South / General, Gender studies: transgender & intersex