DRS/SRI: The Sexual Lives of Borderlanders: Hijras on the Bangladesh-India Border
Date
From: 04 February 2013 16:15
Till: 04 February 2013 17:45
Location:
Aula A
Description
Speaker: Delwar Hussain, University of Cambridge
Development Research Series organized by Sexuality Research Initiative @ISS: 'Why Sex Counts'
Spring/Summer 2013
Abstract
Boropani is a coal mining district situated on the Bangladesh-India Border. It is one of the largest land-ports between the two countries, dedicated exclusively to the import and export of coal. Whilst all the mines are on the Indian side, the labourers are in the main Bangladeshi.
They cross the border illegally to work them. One group of people attracted to area are hijras, traditionally known as the ‘third sex’, who come from all across Bangladesh to participate in the trade. The talk presents an alternative argument to how hijras are presented in popular understandings and academic literature as well as relations between Bangladesh and India.
About the speaker
Delwar Hussain is an anthropologist and has recently completed a PhD from the University of Cambridge. “Boundaries Undermined: The Ruins of Progress on the Bangladesh-India Border” will be published in 2013 by Hurst. He is currently researching his second book, a social and cultural history of Dhaka
See for more information:
Please contact Dr Wendy Harcourt: harcourt@iss.nl and Dr Silke Heumann: heumann@iss.nl
Full DRS/SRI: 'Why Sex Counts' Programme
Publication date: Monday, 21 January 2013
