The prerogative of the brave: Hijras and sexual citizenship after orientalism

Abstract

In this article I discuss the complex figure of the ‘Hijra’, a sexually dissident actor in Indian politics that might offer inroads into thinking through sexual citizenship after orientalism. This article aims to trouble spectacles of vulnerability that often apprehend sexed/gendered bodies in the global south as consummate victims, seen to be perpetually grieving on world stages. I suggest that the embodied and confrontational performances of Hijras in public space might offer an affront to such narratives. I point to examples of sexual politics articulated by Hijras that gesture to a sexual citizenship after, beyond, and outside orientalism. This article questions occidentalist frameworks that undercut contemporary sexual/gendered politics and suggests that there should perhaps be a scholarly prerogative to reframe the concepts of desire.

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