Community Transformation among Hijras in South India: Sexual Rights, NGOs and Converging Paths Toward Social Change

• In Event: 505 - Section on Global and Transnational Sociology Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 11. Social Change, Protest, and Civil Society

Abstract

India has witnessed a proliferation of sexual rights NGOs over the past 20 years, fueled by the HIV/AIDS crisis and international funding to curb the spread of HIV. Prior to NGOs, communities of hijras offered the only social space available to this group by providing housing, financial and social support. Hijra social organization was traditionally based on the kinship relations of guru (teacher) and chela (disciple), a hierarchical relationship that emphasizes reciprocity. Within the past two decades, there have been numerous social shifts around sexual minority rights in India that have opened up a wider social space for hijras and other gender non-conforming people to occupy. The mutual obligation and reciprocal need between hijra community members has been disrupted by social changes that offer enhanced options for hijras, which are at least partly an effect of NGO-led activism and campaigns. In order to contextualize these shifts in hijra communities, I offer an analysis of how the following social changes have affected the life options for gender non-conforming people assigned male at birth: restricted options for large hijra households in gentrifying areas of Bangalore, greater access to rental accommodation as a result of perceived shifts in social acceptance, and greater perceived familial acceptance, which offers possibilities to maintain kinship relationships with their natal families. These changes are in many ways related to the media publicity around transgender and hijra lives (often mediated by NGOs), which have led to limited, but important, shifts in social acceptance for gender non-conforming people.

Author

• Elizabeth Ann Mount, Syracuse University