When “Sexuality” Floated Free of Histories in South Asia

Chatterjee, Indrani

doi:10.1017/s0021911812001246

Cited by 60 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(26 reference statements)

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“…Preston's research might be extended by situating the Marathas' granting of vatans and inams to hijras within the wider context of early modern South Asian "pastoral" forms of governance, in which the provisioning and protection of people were important acts of governance carried out by rulers, religious establishments and lay people (Chatterjee, 2018b). Preston does not closely analyze hijra discipleship and succession, but future work might consider early modern state records on hijra lineages in light of literature on "monastic governments" or estates, which were structured by interlinked relationships of discipleship, kinship, marriage and bondage (Chatterjee, 2012(Chatterjee, , 2015Kasturi, 2009;Pinch, 2004).…”

Section: State Patronage and Ambivalent Elite Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, analysis of the historically contingent relationship between gender and desire is imperative. 1 Moreover, gender historians of South Asia have often implicitly deployed a binary conceptualization of gender, with some notable exceptions (e.g., Abbott, 2020;Chatterjee, 1999Chatterjee, , 2012Vanita, 2012). This article examines historical and interdisciplinary research within the field of South Asian hijra studies.…”

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Hijras and South Asian historiography

Hinchy

2022

History Compass

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Since the 1990s, scholars of South Asia have framed the hijra community in a variety of ways, for instance, as a third gender, a transgender group, and an identity made through more than gender difference. Both interdisciplinary and historical accounts have debated the relationship between "hijra" and other gender, sexual or social subjectivities and categories. Hijra histories suggest that the community has often been at the center of historical transformations in governance, households, gender, embodiment, epistemologies, and political economies. Yet historical research has especially focused on the 19th century, raising questions about what a deeper genealogy of the term hijra might reveal about longer trajectories of historical change in gendered categories and practices. I argue that hijra histories may provide openings for gender historians to think critically about what precisely they mean by "gender." Moreover, because hijra and transgender studies from South Asia have foregrounded the geopolitics of translation, this literature prompts fruitful questions for the field of transgender history.

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Section: State Patronage and Ambivalent Elite Attitudesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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confidence: 99%

Hijras and South Asian historiography

Hinchy

2022

History Compass

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“…Jessica: In "When 'Sexuality' Floated Free of Histories in South Asia" you argued that the process of naming something "sexual" is part of the history of colonialism, and also intersects with the development of "Indian secularism." 7 In particular, relationships within monastic communities were labelled as forms of "sexuality." Could you explain that process?…”

Section: Girijamentioning

confidence: 99%

Selective Amnesia and South Asian Histories: An Interview with Indrani Chatterjee

Hinchy¹,

Joshi²

2021

Itinerario

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In her pioneering work over the past twenty-five years, Chatterjee has illuminated new dimensions of a variety of underexplored themes in South Asia's past-including slavery, the household, and monasticism-and has critically reappraised gender and sexuality as frameworks in South Asian history. Her first book, Gender, Slavery, and Law in Colonial India, demonstrated the intersections between kinship, dependence, and enslavement, complexities that necessitate a more nuanced appreciation of slave agency and subalternity. 1 Chatterjee showed that the historical experience of slavery in South Asia did not conform to the Atlantic model. The authors interviewed Chatterjee on 21 January 2020 in Leiden. This edited excerpt focuses on several strands of Chatterjee's more recent research-including religion, governance, "connected histories," gender, and sexualityand highlights how the power dynamics of academia have shaped these literatures. In her 2013 book Forgotten Friends, Chatterjee studied the monastic lineages that have historically linked and governed the diverse populations and ecologies of the eastern Himalayas and the Brahmaputra valley. 2 From the late eighteenth century, colonial and postcolonial governments partitioned these interconnected geographies into discrete administrative units and categorised their populations as distinct "aboriginal tribes" (adivasis). Even though the old teacher-disciple bonds were disrupted and forgotten by generations of administrators and scholars, these ties have endured. Chatterjee highlights the urgency of excavating these historical connections, without which a full understanding of community in South Asia will remain elusive. Jessica: So Indrani, why did you become a historian? Indrani: That's a really hard question to answer because it was such a long time ago. Perhaps because I was fascinated by a lot of the architecture of old sites around me in Delhi. When I was a schoolgirl, our teachers would take us out to various sites of Mughal architecture on school trips. I remember a particular visit to

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“…14. For a discussion of gender ambiguity in South Asia, see, among others, Pani 1977;Doniger 1982Doniger , 1995Doniger , 2000Goldman 1993;Vanita and Kidwai 2001;Vanita 2002;Chatterjee 2012;. Indian conceptions of personhood and the porousness of the body also frame the ways that practices of gender guising and impersonation appear in the South Asian context (Marriott 1976;Daniel 1984;Nabokov 2000;Smith 2006).…”

Section: Post Scriptmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impersonations: The Artifice of Brahmin Masculinity in South Indian Dance

Kamath¹

2019

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Luminos is the Open Access monograph publishing program from UC Press. Luminos provides a framework for preserving and reinvigorating monograph publishing for the future and increases the reach and visibility of important scholarly work. Titles published in the UC Press Luminos model are published with the same high standards for selection, peer review, production, and marketing as those in our traditional program. www.luminosoa.org Illustrations FIGURES 1-2. Vedantam Satyanarayana Sarma in the village of Kuchipudi 3 3. Ramalingeshvara and Balatripurasundari temple in the center of the Kuchipudi village 15 4. Siddhendra's mūrti (image) in a temple in the Kuchipudi village 45 5-11. Vedantam Venkata Naga Chalapathi Rao donning Satyabhama's strī-vēṣam 60-61 12. Chinta Ravi Balakrishna as the sūtradhāra 83 13. Satyabhama addressing Madhavi 84 14. Madhavi and Satyabhama offer flowers to Krishna (performed by Yeleswarapu Srinivas) 90 15. Sasikala Penumarthi enacts Satyabhama 110 16. Vedantam Raghava as the sūtradhāra 112 17. Madhavi and Satyabhama 113 18. Madhavi wears Satyabhama's nose ring 115 19. Satyabhama combs Madhavi's hair 126 20. Author impersonates Krishna 129 xi Acknowled gmentsWriting is a performative act that demands collective labor in the guise, or vēṣam, of a singular voice. Although a monograph, this book would not be possible without the collective efforts of teachers, mentors, colleagues, and friends. My Kuchipudi guru, Sasikala Penumarthi, first introduced me to Kuchipudi through her exquisite skills in performance. Chavali Balatripurasundari, the daughter of guru Vempati Chinna Satyam, deepened my knowledge of Kuchipudi through her persistent dedication to her father's legacy. Inspired by Baliakka's story, I dedicate this book to her.I am deeply indebted to Joyce Burkhalter Flueckiger, my incredibly generous advisor who has supported me throughout, from the start of this project to its finish. Joyce's intellectual insights, deep love of India, and commitment to her students are truly remarkable, and she has been the single force that has shaped my academic training over the years. Velcheru Narayana Rao has sparked my interest in all things Telugu since the day I met him. I am grateful not only for Narayana Rao's unbridled enthusiasm for reading Telugu texts, but also for his insightful observations and inspirational claims. My mentor at the University of Hyderabad, Anuradha Jonnalagadda, has been a guiding force through this project. Anuradha's expansive knowledge of Kuchipudi dance history is an inspiration, and she is the single most influential scholar of Kuchipudi dance to date. I also thank the other scholars who influenced the shape of this book, including Laurie Louise Patton, an intellectual tour de force who prompted me on the path of scholarly work in South Asian studies. Vasudha Narayanan, the authority on South India, has shaped the arc of my scholarship from dissertation to book. I am extremely grateful to Anne Monius for her ongoing support of my research and scholarly care...

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When “Sexuality” Floated Free of Histories in South Asia

Cited by 60 publications

References 43 publications

Hijras and South Asian historiography

Hijras and South Asian historiography

Selective Amnesia and South Asian Histories: An Interview with Indrani Chatterjee

Impersonations: The Artifice of Brahmin Masculinity in South Indian Dance

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