Governing Thirdness

Book excerpt: Khawaja Sira of Pakistan are a heterogeneous group of marginalized gender nonconforming individuals who defy traditional notions of gender and sexuality. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Lahore, Pakistan, Governing Thirdness provides important insights about the identity, marginalization and governance of the Khawaja Sira as they try to live an unliveable life. Taking a broad view of governance, this book includes a comprehensive analysis of governance of the Khawaja Sira across legal, social and administrative institutions. It also argues that labels like third gender and transgender fails to account for the gender fluid lives and multiple types of individuals who identify as Khawaja Sira, yet these categories, largely imported from the west, are used without much thought to govern this heterogeneous group.