Governing Thirdness
State, Society, and Non-Binary Identities in Pakistan

Provides insights about the identity, marginalization and governance of the Khawaja Sira—gender nonconforming individuals in Pakistan.

Muhammad Azfar Nisar (Author)

9781316516713, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 June 2022

238 pages
23.6 x 15.9 x 1.9 cm, 0.46 kg

Khawaja Sira of Pakistan are a heterogeneous group of marginalized gender nonconforming individuals who defy traditional notions of gender and sexuality. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Lahore, Pakistan, Governing Thirdness provides important insights about the identity, marginalization and governance of the Khawaja Sira as they try to live an unliveable life. Taking a broad view of governance, this book includes a comprehensive analysis of governance of the Khawaja Sira across legal, social and administrative institutions. It also argues that labels like third gender and transgender fails to account for the gender fluid lives and multiple types of individuals who identify as Khawaja Sira, yet these categories, largely imported from the west, are used without much thought to govern this heterogeneous group.

1. Governance, thirdness and the Khawaja Sira of Pakistan
2. Governing thirdness through religion, history and language
Section I. Social Governance: 3. Governing thirdness in the family
4. Governance in the Khawaja Sira community
Section II. Legal Governance: 5. Governing thirdness by law
6. Resisting legal thirdness
Section III. Bureaucratic Governance: 7. Governing thirdness at the bureaucratic offices
8. Governing thirdness at work
9. Governing thirdness on the street
10. Resisting bureaucratic governance of thirdness
11. Waste, governance and inclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Gender & the law [LAQG], Politics & government [JP], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Sociology & anthropology [JH], Gender studies, gender groups [JFSJ], Cultural studies [JFC], Society & culture: general [JF]