“The Long History of Criminalising Hijras” by Jessica Hinchy + Assignment

As discussed in the lecture, gender is complex and though many people think of it as biological, it is actually cultural because your culture provides the gender categories available in your society. When we look cross-culturally, we see that many cultures around the world have numerous gender categories. In this discussion, we will learn about Hijras of India. Hijras are people who are not male or female.  They hold a special spiritual role in Indian society, but after India was colonized by the British they also became stigmatized.

You will need to read the assigned article and watch two short films, and then answer questions for this assignment.

STEP 1: Watch and Read

• Watch, What is a Hijra? (3 min)
• Watch, Hijras, the Third Gender in India  (5 min)
• Read, “The Long History of Criminalising Hijras” by Jessica Hinchy. (The PDF is here.)

STEP 2: Write your Answers

Write answers for each of the following questions. Write them in sentence/paragraph form of approximately 1-5 sentences per question, depending on the question. 

1. What is something that stood out to you from the two videos?
2. What was Section 377?
3. Describe the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act (CTA), including Part II, in 2-3 sentences.
4. In your own words, describe at least two ways that Hijras were perceived as a threat by British colonizers.
5. What is Hijra badhai? 
6. In your own words, describe at least two ways that Hijras were impacted by the 1871 CTA laws. 
7. By 1911 Part II of the CTA was repealed because officials thought Hijras had "died out." Were they right? Why or why not? 
8. What are some of the ways that stigma and criminalization of Hijras originating with the colonial era has continued in India post-colonization? 
9. What is at least one criticism of the 2018 Transgender Rights bill (or TPPR)? 
10. At the end of the article, how does the author explain why Hijras have been targeted (or seen as a threat) by colonial and post colonial states? 
11. Please share anything else you thought was interesting from the lectures, videos, or reading. 

STEP 3: Submit your Answers

Submit your answers by clicking the blue, "Take The Survey" button below and copying your answers into the box in the "survey." Although I am using the survey feature for this, it is not a survey. This is just an assignment. Do your best, but I'm not grading you on getting the right answer; you will be graded based on your sincere attempt to answer the questions and showing that you have read watched the lecture and read the article, even if you didn't understand all of it.

Please get in touch if you have any issues submitting your answers. 

STEP 4: Check Your Answers

After you submit your answers, click on Attempt 1 in the Attempt History. You should be able to see information (correct answers) from me for each question. This information is meant to help you affirm that you were on the right track in understanding what the article was saying and the anthropological perspective or, if not, fill gaps in your understanding. You will only be able to see the answers once, so take any notes that you want to. 

Please let me know if you have any problems viewing the answers.