The Thirunangai Promise: Gender as a contingent outcome of migration and economic exchange

Sociology

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https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201222194
Final published version
Available under license: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Keywords

kinship, linguistic anthropology, migration, South Asia, transgender

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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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The Thirunangai Promise: Gender as a contingent outcome of migration and economic exchange. / Nataraj, S.
In: Anti-Trafficking Review, Vol. 2022, No. 19 Special Issue, 27.09.2022, p. 47-65.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Bibtex

@article{4491ab2be97d4397b24ba3f4b381bbd9,

title = "The Thirunangai Promise: Gender as a contingent outcome of migration and economic exchange",

abstract = "In this paper, I track how social actors in the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu contested the boundaries of thirunangai identity, the preferred Tamil term for transgender women. Using a framework derived from linguistic and economic anthropology, I show how gendered personhood is a contingent outcome of the value and meaning given to migrations and economic exchanges, where migration makes new gendered subjectivities possible while curtailing others. I offer a queer analysis of migration, highlighting how social womanhood is a contingent achievement and a contested status, split along axes of class, caste, religion, language, cis-or transgenderhood, and so forth. Not all persons socially categorised as women marry, migrate or labour in the same way, and gender is never a singular or isolated axis of differentiation. {\textcopyright} 2022, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women. All rights reserved.",

keywords = "kinship, linguistic anthropology, migration, South Asia, transgender",

author = "S. Nataraj",

note = "Export Date: 27 October 2022",

year = "2022",

month = sep,

day = "27",

doi = "10.14197/atr.201222194",

language = "English",

volume = "2022",

pages = "47--65",

journal = "Anti-Trafficking Review",

number = "19 Special Issue",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - The Thirunangai Promise: Gender as a contingent outcome of migration and economic exchange

AU - Nataraj, S.

N1 - Export Date: 27 October 2022

PY - 2022/9/27

Y1 - 2022/9/27

N2 - In this paper, I track how social actors in the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu contested the boundaries of thirunangai identity, the preferred Tamil term for transgender women. Using a framework derived from linguistic and economic anthropology, I show how gendered personhood is a contingent outcome of the value and meaning given to migrations and economic exchanges, where migration makes new gendered subjectivities possible while curtailing others. I offer a queer analysis of migration, highlighting how social womanhood is a contingent achievement and a contested status, split along axes of class, caste, religion, language, cis-or transgenderhood, and so forth. Not all persons socially categorised as women marry, migrate or labour in the same way, and gender is never a singular or isolated axis of differentiation. © 2022, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women. All rights reserved.

AB - In this paper, I track how social actors in the city of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu contested the boundaries of thirunangai identity, the preferred Tamil term for transgender women. Using a framework derived from linguistic and economic anthropology, I show how gendered personhood is a contingent outcome of the value and meaning given to migrations and economic exchanges, where migration makes new gendered subjectivities possible while curtailing others. I offer a queer analysis of migration, highlighting how social womanhood is a contingent achievement and a contested status, split along axes of class, caste, religion, language, cis-or transgenderhood, and so forth. Not all persons socially categorised as women marry, migrate or labour in the same way, and gender is never a singular or isolated axis of differentiation. © 2022, Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women. All rights reserved.

KW - kinship

KW - linguistic anthropology

KW - migration

KW - South Asia

KW - transgender

U2 - 10.14197/atr.201222194

DO - 10.14197/atr.201222194

M3 - Journal article

VL - 2022

SP - 47

EP - 65

JO - Anti-Trafficking Review

JF - Anti-Trafficking Review

IS - 19 Special Issue

ER -

Research

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