Panel
8. Negotiating Margins: Representations, Resistances, Agencies
In 2015, a group of hijra leaders decided to establish the Kinnar Akhara, an ascetic-like Hindu order, to reclaim a supposedly lost space in the Hindu religion. To do so, they challenged the change-resistant world of traditional ascetic groups –but were eventually accepted by some sections– and downplayed the Islamic legacy of the hijra traditions. This move attracted criticism from those who saw them pandering to right-wing Hindutva ideology in order to gain political favours from the central government.
In this presentation, using ethnographic data, I will look the shift from a hijra to a kinnar religious identity and how it has changed performances and interactions in the religious environment, and in addition how kinnars are perceived by other religious leaders, devotees, or the general public. As this specifically Hindu identity enables kinnar leaders to occupy spaces that were previously not inclusive to them, through this presentation I aim to entangle how religion can be used as a tool to challenge marginalization, by conforming/balancing/exploiting political standards and power dynamics that affect not only the religious, but also the social and political spheres.
Daniela Bevilacqua
Centre for Research in Anthropology, Portugal