The Right to Exist

[An Onymus (imported)]

Some time ago, an article entitled "The Right to Exist," appeared in some publication, I think it was a journal in India. I was looking for it the other day in an index of articles on the social sciences, and couldn't find any reference to it. I Think the article may have been published as long ago as the 1950's. I thought perhaps someone doing research on eunuchism, might have read the article, and might know where it can be accessed.

The reason I thought it would be interesting is, that it deals with the attempts by the Hijras in India, during the nineteenth century, to be officially recognized as a population group. This is, of course, of interest, because the British Raj apparently refused to acknowledge that there could be a community of eunuchs. That relates to the sexual stereotypes which people have--they insist that people be either identifiably male or female, and that individuals conform to the social standards of behavior and appearance for one of the sexes.

It would be interesting to find out what the arguments the British administrators in India gave, when refusing to acknowledge the existence of the Hijras as a group. To this day, I don't think that the Indian government officially acknowledges that Hijras are a distinct social subgroup, although that is clearly shown in books like The Invisibles and Neither Man Nor Woman.

The journal would probably be available only in the library of some major research university, I would suppose.

[JesusA (imported)]

Is the article The Right to Exist: Eunuchs and the State in Nineteenth-Century India, by Laurence W. Preston, published in Modern Asian Studies, vol. 21, no. 2 (1981), pp. 371–87?

It's on my bibliography, though I have not yet been able to find a copy. If you manage to find it before I do, please let me know. I will also let you know if I manage.

[An Onymus (imported)]

That's undoubtedly the article, Jesus. I saw a reference to it quite some time ago, which is why I had the title incomplete and the publication date wrong. I have to admit that I don't search very thoroughly for articles or books that are peripheral to what I'm researching. Of course, I would like to see the article. If you find it, perhaps you could post a copy on this website. I don't think there were many controversies of the type described in the article, in the nineteenth century--or, indeed, at any time.

[An Onymus (imported)]

Jesus--

This article is available online--knowing the title of the journal, I was able to access it. I think this is a restricted site, so unless you have access through an academic institution, you might not be able to get in. The article was rather interesting, though it didn't turn out to be what I expected. Rather surprising that the pre-Raj government had granted various rights and privileges to the hijras. Here's the portal, if you can get in. The actual year of publication is 1987. Just click on browse, and you can find the article easily.

http://www.jstor.org/journals/0026749x.html