1. One reason that many Indians probably aren’t all that concerned with hijras is because of their political system. Hijras are not going to be running for office, voting, or interfering with the community as a whole in any way other than to perform. Hijras are the lowest of the low, below the lowest part of the caste system (Lecture 2), so that really leaves them as maybe an annoyance to some, but not necessarily a problem. If America took the right to vote or get married away from homosexual/transgendered people and didn’t allow them to run for office, I think we would hear much less complaining from a great many people...especially certain news outfits that may or may not rhyme with the word "box".
I believe Indian people probably live in …show more content…
Seeing as though hijra 's don 't have children to care for, they typically live with each other. There are some that have married and live separately, or that make enough money outside of their troupe to live on their own. The ones that are living on their own are never too far and are always involved. (Pg. 39) The hijra household is organized as a commune and usually consists of anywhere from 5 to 15 members.
There are seven different houses (not households) that split up the hijras to "facilitate intracommunity organization". (Pg. 39) Each of the houses within a region has someone called a naik, which is translated to chief, and they are the elders of their respective house. The naiks make decisions about new recruits as well as on disputes and those who violate community rules.
A Guru is a senior member of the hijra 's and a teacher to a Chela (disciple) and is the one that controls the work for the Chela 's, be it "ritual performances, prostitution, or asking for alms"(Pg. 43-44) Guru 's act as surrogate parents to the Chela 's and keep a household organized, clean, fed, and employed. For example on page 45 there is a hijra named Kamal that said "If you don 't keep you hair covered with your sari, if you don 't cook properly, if the house is not spotlessly clean, for all these things they (guru 's) give you trouble. You can 't just throw your dirty clothes down anywhere, you have to wash them immediately and hang them …show more content…
I can think of an instance in "Nisa" where Marjorie Shostak wrote about the children when they first start to play around with each other’s bodies. On page 99 of "Nisa" it shows how the boys would play with each other and touch one another, same with the girls, until later on they would switch it up and most of them would participate in heterosexual sex play. I only say most of them because I remember in one of your lectures you mentioned that there were cases of men having sex with each other and it was looked at as weird, but ultimately not a big deal. Another instance of a reversal of gender roles in "Nisa" is on page 219, when one of the women would go and hunt her own meat, which was considered a man 's job. Again, it seemed looked at more as something out of the ordinary but not
I believe Indian people probably live in …show more content…
Seeing as though hijra 's don 't have children to care for, they typically live with each other. There are some that have married and live separately, or that make enough money outside of their troupe to live on their own. The ones that are living on their own are never too far and are always involved. (Pg. 39) The hijra household is organized as a commune and usually consists of anywhere from 5 to 15 members.
There are seven different houses (not households) that split up the hijras to "facilitate intracommunity organization". (Pg. 39) Each of the houses within a region has someone called a naik, which is translated to chief, and they are the elders of their respective house. The naiks make decisions about new recruits as well as on disputes and those who violate community rules.
A Guru is a senior member of the hijra 's and a teacher to a Chela (disciple) and is the one that controls the work for the Chela 's, be it "ritual performances, prostitution, or asking for alms"(Pg. 43-44) Guru 's act as surrogate parents to the Chela 's and keep a household organized, clean, fed, and employed. For example on page 45 there is a hijra named Kamal that said "If you don 't keep you hair covered with your sari, if you don 't cook properly, if the house is not spotlessly clean, for all these things they (guru 's) give you trouble. You can 't just throw your dirty clothes down anywhere, you have to wash them immediately and hang them …show more content…
I can think of an instance in "Nisa" where Marjorie Shostak wrote about the children when they first start to play around with each other’s bodies. On page 99 of "Nisa" it shows how the boys would play with each other and touch one another, same with the girls, until later on they would switch it up and most of them would participate in heterosexual sex play. I only say most of them because I remember in one of your lectures you mentioned that there were cases of men having sex with each other and it was looked at as weird, but ultimately not a big deal. Another instance of a reversal of gender roles in "Nisa" is on page 219, when one of the women would go and hunt her own meat, which was considered a man 's job. Again, it seemed looked at more as something out of the ordinary but not