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Countering transphobic stigma: Identity work by self‐employed Keralan transpeople

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  • Roshni Narendran
  • James Reveley
  • Shamika Almeida

Abstract

Transpeople in India forge identities at the confluence of contradictory social forces. Interviews conducted in the state of Kerala suggest that the experience of transphobic stigma results in self‐employed transpeople being abjectified. Social abjectification, in turn, triggers their identity work within liminal social spaces located between the everyday lifeworld and postcolonial legal institutions. Through this work, the participants in this study navigated the contradictions between two identity‐constituting external structures: culture and law. Culture is a source of identity threat, but it also supplies a socially legitimated identity template—the hijra—used in the vital self‐formative work of mirroring and witnessing. Similarly, trans‐supportive social policies and laws provide institutional scaffolding for identities. Yet, despite the agential nature of the participants' identity work, the inherent limitations of the law and the vulnerability of embodiment render them susceptible to the ongoing threat posed by the transphobia emanating from ambient cultural norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Roshni Narendran & James Reveley & Shamika Almeida, 2021. "Countering transphobic stigma: Identity work by self‐employed Keralan transpeople," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1220-1236, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:gender:v:28:y:2021:i:4:p:1220-1236
    DOI: 10.1111/gwao.12670
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Mahso Gichki, 2020. "Deconstructing Transgender Identities in Pakistan, India, and Iran in Colonial and Post-colonial Context," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 63(1), pages 31-37, March.
    2. Sweta Rajan†Rankin, 2018. "Invisible Bodies and Disembodied Voices? Identity Work, the Body and Embodiment in Transnational Service Work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 9-23, January.
    3. repec:dau:papers:123456789/12277 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Geetanjali Misra & Nafisa Ferdous, 2017. "Why Legal Reform is Insufficient to Ensure Sexual Equality," Development, Palgrave Macmillan;Society for International Deveopment, vol. 60(1), pages 96-99, September.
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