THE HIJRA PROJECT
AN INITIATIVE BY INA GOEL,
PHD CANDIDATE
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
The Hijra Project brings together the living experiences of the hijra community to better understand gender, sex and sexuality. It highlights the complex experiences of exclusion from within the trans and third gender communities in India.
ABOUT
Ina Goel has worked extensively with the hijra communities of India. In 2014, Ina was awarded the prestigious Inlaks scholarship and is presently pursuing research in Gender and Sexuality Studies at University College London. Previously, she has worked with All India Radio, Al Jazeera English and has been associated with many community radios. She was a former recipient of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship at the Department of Epidemiology & International Public Health at Bielefeld University, Germany. She completed her M.Phil in Social Medicine and Community Health from Jawaharlal Nehru University and her Masters in Social Work from University of Delhi. She has worked in various capacities in research and training with Family Health International, UNICEF, Delhi State AIDS Control Society, Indian Institute of Mass Communication, Social and Development Research and Action Group, Plan International, UCLU Women’s Network and Office of the Vice-Provost (Research), University College London.
PUBLISHED WORK
Academic
https://ucl.academia.edu/InaGoel
HIJRA COMMUNITIES OF DELHI
Goel, Ina (2016). The hijra communities of Delhi. Sexualities. Vol. 19, No. 5-6, pp 535-546.
The Author(s) 2016 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1363460715616946sex.sagepub.com
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.
BEYOND THE GENDER BINARY
Goel, Ina (2014) Beyond the gender binary. Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. XLIX, No. 15, pp 77-78.
http://www.epw.in/journal/2014/15/discussion/beyond-gender-binary.html
Discussion
Given the complexity of the hijra identity, its legalisation requires an informed, non-paternalistic,non-partisan and participatory approach. A response to the editorial “The Third Sex”( EPW, 26 October 2013).
THE LIVES OF INTERSEXED AND TRANSGENDER PEOPLE: INDO-GERMAN PERSPECTIVES
Goel, Ina (2013). The lives of Intersexed and transgender People: Indo-German perspectives. Global Health. Vol. 2. Department of Epidemiology and International Health. University of Bielefeld, Germany. pp 52-55.
https://www.academia.edu/3192414/The_Lives_of_Intersexed_and_Transgender_People_Indo-German_Perspectives
GENDERED COMPLEXITIES: A STUDY OF SOCIAL AND CULTURAL EXCLUSION AMONG HIJRAS IN DELHI
Goel, Ina (2013). Gendered Complexities: A study of social and cultural exclusion among hijras in Delhi. In, Somayajulu U, Siva Raju S, Prakasam CP (eds.) Social Inclusion and Women Health: Perspectives and Issues, Women Press. Delhi. pp. 51-69.
TRAJECTORIES OF THE TRANSGENDER: THE NEED TO MOVE FROM SEX TO SEXUALITY
Goel, Ina and Nayar, K.R (2012). Trajectories of the transgender: The need to move from sex to sexuality. Economic and Political Weekly. Vol. XLVII, No. 47-48.
http://www.epw.in/journal/2012/47-48/commentary/trajectories-transgender.html
Commentary
The Supreme Court has issued notices to the centre and state governments asking for responses on why such a category as "third sex" should not be created for transgender people. The question starts from an inappropriate positioning of establishing hierarchies in gender and implied gender roles. Mainstreaming the so-called "sexual minorities" by creating a separate category will lead to stigma and discrimination, rather than encourage pluralistic expressions in gender.
PUBLICATIONS
Other
http://porterfolio.net/ina
हिजड़ा समुदाय का रहस्य लोक
9 January 2017
MENSTRUAL CHRONICLES FROM DELHI
https://thefemlitmag.com/menstrual-chronicles-from-delhi-ina-goel-6ddc91315f15
1 December 2015
BEYOND MEDICINE: ACCESSING PUBLIC HEALTH BY ‘THIRD’ GENDER IN INDIA
http://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-global/2017/05/03/beyond-medicine-difficult-dialogues-2017/
3 May 2017
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