This book is based on long term ethnographic research with hijras, the emblematic figure of South Asian sexual and gender difference in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It 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 re-examination of both hijras in particular and the wider range of 'male femininities' in general.

Studies hijras in Bangladesh, challenging the dominant representation of hijra as either a third sex or a form of transgender.

About the Author
Adnan Hossain is Assistant Professor of Gender Studies and Critical Theory at Graduate Gender Program, Utrecht University. His research concerns gender and sexual diversity, heterosexualities, masculinities, transgender and intersex studies, race and ethnic relations, bodies, nationalism, de/post-colonial studies and global inequalities in knowledge production.


Book Information
ISBN 9781316517048
Author Adnan Hossain
Format Hardback
Page Count 244
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 460g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 160mm * 20mm