Table 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.

Promotional Information

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

About the Author

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

Reviews

'This brilliantly researched and highly original book reveals how the colonial state equated gender disorder with political disorder. Highly relevant to contemporary Indian debates on gender, sexuality and law, this is a masterful account of the relationship between colonial governance and gender expression, sexual behaviour, domestic arrangements and intimate relationships.' Clare Anderson, University of Leicester

'Deftly reading the colonial archive against the grain, Hinchy has provided a rich and novel analysis of the Hijra community against the backdrop of moral panic in British India.' Kim A. Wagner, Queen Mary University of London