What Can Hijras Teach Us about Governance, Gender, and Wealth?

Abstract This is an illustrated social history of how hijras (a community of trans-feminine people) have long served as a linchpin in state regulations of social (dis)order in colonial and postcolonial contexts. The authors trace the social life of laws governing “unruly” communities in the Indian subcontinent, emphasizing how social regulation of gender often emerges from material regulation. Colonial constructions of the “public indecency of eunuchs” and “unnatural offenses” were the pretext for regulating hijra livelihoods, kinship structures, and wealth, allowing the state to acquire land and revenue. More broadly, such constructions of “criminal castes and tribes” also implicated communities beyond hijras, with lingering effects to this day. However, the lives of hijras and other communities transcend the policies of containment, criminalization, and extermination imposed on them, showcasing their persistent ability to thrive in the face of these efforts to govern them. The authors have envisioned their graphic narrative as a teaching tool to engage wider audiences in discussions of how gender, sexuality, caste, labor, and kinship are regulated.