Transgender in Indian Context: Rights and Activism
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FOREWORD
Sri Dipak Giri, a serious research scholar, has been laboriously
editing scholarly books for the last few years, on various issues, and the
latest is on transgender studies, which is a fresh new area in Indian
academics. The addition of the subtitle, which refers to the activism in the
Indian soil , makes it both informative and investigative, indicating the
passion of Sri Giri to be with the current always and to be collaborative in a
gesture to present for us his best possible material in a challenging new
field.
Despite debates on the subtle differences among
the terms relating to Gender and Sexuality, transgender falls within the broad
stream of the “Queer”. Although the discipline owes its birth to Michael
Foucault, Gayle Rubin, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, and Judith Butler, the term
queer, often considered as transgender’s evil twin, was
first used in Teresa de Lauretis’s 1991 work in the feminist cultural
studies journal differences entitled
“Queer Theory: Lesbian and Gay Sexualities.” She explores her coinage to indicate
that there are allied topics involved within this discipline, deconstructing
the traditional mistake of calling heterosexuality as an index of sexual
habits. It was a challenge to the notion that lesbian and gay studies formed an
identical branch of study. Further, it stressed on the various ways that race
shaped sexual bias. De Lauretis suggests that queer theory could
unite all of these critiques together to open up new researches on sexuality.
There was a time when the transsexuals were
regarded as abominable beings in most feminist and gay or lesbian discourses.
Today, there is arising a growing need in the transsexual people, as they have
acquired the more sophisticated name transgender, to articulate new
subjectivisation of the self that truly expresses the reality of transgender
crises. In this context, Giri’s book, which is a collection of essays by expert
hands, will be quite useful both as a humanitarian statement demanding serious
attention in society and also as a reference text in the humanities departments.
In the context of the approaching age of Sri
Aurobindo, the “flawed being” cannot be a static reality. Until that reversible
reality envisaged by the master in his “The Destiny of the Body” and other
texts relating to the transformation of the body, reaches the masses, the
efforts taken by critics like Giri and his team are welcome.
Goutam
Ghosal, D. Litt.,
Professor,
Department
of English
Visva-Bharati,
Santiniketan
West
Bengal
CONTENTS
Foreword
Introduction
1.
“A
Woman Trapped in a Man’s Body…Am I a Flawed
Being (?)”: A Study of Revathi’s The Truth about Me -Dr.
Anupriya Roy Srivastava
2.
Transgender Identity: A Conflict between
Belief (Dharma) and Truth (The Ultimate) in Devdutt Pattanaik’s The Pregnant
King -Anila Chandran
3.
Njan Marykutty: Steps into the
Mindscapes of Transpersons -Lissy P.V, Minu Thomas & Jestymol V.
Joseph
4. Flagitiousness
in a Transgender Life: A. Revathi’s Truth
about Me: A Hijira Life Story -R. Murugesan
5.
International
Perspectives for Education and Socio-economic Promotion of Transgender
Community in reference to India and Other Asian Countries -Srimoyee Poddar & Dr. Ramakanta Mohalik
6.
‘Self’ and ‘the Others’: A Reading of Kavita Sinha’s Pourush -Dr. Priyalekha N S
7.
Transgenders: Identity and Rights -Junaid ul Shafi
8.
Conceptualizing Transgender in the
Indian Context: Contentions and Conundrums -Anee Bhattacharyya
9.
Queer
Representation in Indian Cinema: A Study on Select Films
-Anju Harikumar
10.
Doubly Jeopardized ‘Invisible’ Class:
Exploring the Existence of ‘Hijra’ Community in Mahesh Dattani’s Play Seven Steps Around the Fire -Dayal Chakrabortty
11.
Entity
Diversified: Laxmi Narayan Tripathi -Priyabrata
Dey Sarkar
12.
Gender
Roles and the Perceived Threat of Homosexuality in Arundhati Roy’s The Ministry of Utmost Happiness -S. Anjali Mohan
13.
From
‘Sub-human’ to ‘Human’: The Role of Education in the Making of Manobi
Bandyopadhyay, India’s First Transgender Principal -Samar Sutradhar
14. Questioning
the Social Prejudice against the Hijras in India and Their Fight for Identity: A
Study of Mahesh Dattani’s Seven Steps
Around the Fire -Saurabh Debnath
15. Transgender
Representation in Indian Literature: A Critical Evaluation of a Novel “The
Pregnant King” by Devdutt Pattanaik -Tania
Baloria
16. Laxmi’s
“State”: Transgender to “Self” gender: Red
Lipstick: The Men in My Life -Anindita Datta
17. Locating
Transgender Identity in Ancient Indian Hindu Mythology and Scriptures -Rabindra Sutradhar
18. New Gender the Transgender: Theorizing Transgender
in Indian English Literature in works of Mahesh Dattani - Achyut Tilavat
19. “Can Hijras Speak?”: Voicing the Voiceless and
Exposing the Invisible Social Reality of Hijras in Mahesh
Dattani’s Seven Steps around the Fire – Dr. Vishali Sharma
20. Reversal
of Gender Binary in Living Smile Vidya’s I
am Vidya: A Transgender’s Journey – Dipak
Giri
NOTES ON THE CONTRIBUTORS
1.
Dr. Anupriya Roy Srivastava is an Assistant
Professor, Department of English and MEL, Banasthali Vidyapith, Rajasthan.
2.
Anila Chandran is an Assistant
Professor, Department of
English, HHMSPB NSS
College, Neeramankara,
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.
3.
Lissy P.V is an Assistant Professor, Department of
English, Don Bosco College, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala.
4.
Minu Thomas is an Assistant Professor, Department
of English, Don Bosco College, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala.
5.
Jestymol V. Joseph is an Assistant Professor, Department
of English, Don Bosco College, Mannuthy, Thrissur, Kerala.
6.
R.
Murugesan is a Head and Assistant Professor, Department of
English, Don Bosco College, Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu.
7.
Srimoyee Poddar is an Assistant
Professor, Department of Education, Regional Institute of Education (NCERT),
Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
8.
Dr. Ramakanta
Mohhalik
is an Associate Professor, Department of Education, Regional Institute of
Education (NCERT), Bhubaneswar, Odisha.
9.
Dr. Priyalekha N S is
an Assistant Professor, Centre for Comparative Literature, Sree Sanakarachara
University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Ernakulam, Kerala.
10. Junaid ul Shafi is
an Assistant
Professor, Sopore Law College, Jammu and Kashmir.
11.
Anee Bhattacharyya is a
PhD Research Scholar, Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai.
12.
Anju
Harikumar is a Phd Research Scholar, Department of English,
Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, Kalady, Ernakulam, Kerala.
13. Dayal Chakrabortty is
a Guest Lecturer, Department of English, Netaji Mahavidyalaya, Arambagh,
Hooghly, West Bengal.
14. Priyabrata Dey Sarkar is
a Lecturer, Department of English, Sukanta Mahavidyalaya, Dhupguri, West
Bengal.
15. S. Anjali Mohan is
a Post Graduate Student, Department of English, Pachaiyappa’s College, Chennai,
Tamil Nadu.
16. Samar Sutradhar is an Assistant Teacher in
English, Banarhat High School, Jalpaiguri, West Bengal alongwith a Guest
Faculty in English Literature at Rabindra Bharati University (DDE), Sukanta
Mahavidyalaya Study Centre, Dhupguri, West Bengal.
17. Saurabh Debnath is an Assistant Teacher in
English, Pundibari Ram Gopal Lakhotia High School (H.S.), Coochbehar, West
Bengal alongwith an Academic counsellor in Netaji Subhas Open University, Cooch
Behar College Study Centre, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.
18. Tania Baloria is a Ph.D Research Scholar,
Department of English, Jaipur National University, Jagatpura, Jaipur, Rajasthan.
19. Anindita Datta is a
TGT English in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Cooch Behar alongwith a Guest Lecturer, Department of English, Cooch Behar College, Cooch
Behar, West Bengal.
20. Rabindra Sutradhar is an Assistant Teacher, Khirerkote
High School (H.S.), Alipurduar, West Bengal.
21. Achyut
Tilavat is an Assistant Professor,
Department of English, Diu College, Diu, Gujarat.
22. Dr. Vishali Sharma
is an Assistant Professor, School
of Languages & Culture, Sharda University, Greater Noida (U.P.).
23. Dipak
Giri is an Assistant Teacher, Katamari
High School (H.S.), Cooch Behar, West Bengal and a Ph. D. Research Scholar,
Raiganj University, Raiganj, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal. Besides he is an
Academic Counsellor, Netaji Subhas Open University, Cooch Behar College Study
Centre, Cooch Behar, West Bengal.