Hijra Communities of Delhi

Abstract

This article explores Hijra communities, attempts to understand what it means to take on the Hijra role, and describes the process involved in becoming a Hijra. It is based on an ethnographic study of the Hijras living in Delhi, India and investigates the birth of a Hijra as a social body. The Hijra community has always been on the fringes of society, dwelling in abject poverty and excluded from the process of normalization. Being victims of various forms of prejudices and intolerance, the Hijra community lives in fear and isolation, often in clandestine, ghettoized locations. The problems confronting these groups of people have not been adequately explored, primarily as a result of the hidden nature of the community. By addressing exclusionary practices, the article draws out intersections between identity politics and the reproduction of social difference triggered by existing inequalities and inequities of class, gender and sexuality.