Hijras, Lovers, Brothers: Surviving Sex and Poverty in Rural India (2021)

by Vaibhav Saria

Abstract

This review critically examines Saria’s ethnographic exploration of hijra lives, offering a nuanced understanding of gender, sexuality, and agency. The book interrogates the male-female binary, presenting alternative frameworks such as asceticism and eroticism to understand hijra identity beyond conventional categorizations like the "third gender" or "transgender." It delves into economic realities, tracing the movement of money through hijra networks while challenging public-health discourses surrounding HIV prevention. The intersections of love, desire, and social class are explored through the lens of medieval Sufi-Hindavi romances, revealing how hijra relationships reshape conceptions of time, intimacy, and risk. The concluding chapter juxtaposes the imagined futures dictated by public health with the lived temporalities of hijras in Odisha. Through rich ethnographic detail, theoretical insight, and deeply personal narratives, Saria’s work emerges as a landmark contribution to queer anthropology, filling critical gaps in existing scholarship while offering an evocative, deeply human portrait of hijra lives.