The Queer and the Vernacular Languages in India

This book analyses regional expressions of the queer experience in texts available in the Indian vernacular languages. It studies queer autobiographies and literary and cinematic texts written in the vernacular languages on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. The authors outline the specific terms that are popular in the bhashas (languages) to refer to the queer people and discuss any neo coinages/modes of communication invented by the queer people themselves. The volume also addresses the lack of queer representation in certain language communities and the lack of queer interaction in non-metropolitan cities in India.

An important contribution to the field of queer studies in India, this timely book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of gender studies, queer studies, cultural studies, discrimination and exclusion studies, language studies, political studies, sociology, postcolonial studies and South Asian studies.

Kaustav Chakraborty is Associate Professor in the Department of English, Southfield (Loreto) College, Darjeeling, India. He has been a Fellow at Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla. His areas of interest are Queer Studies, Indigenous Literatures and Cultures, Folklore, Culture of Nationalism, Philosophy of Intimacy and South Asian Literatures. His major publications include Indian Drama in English (edited volume, 2014), Tagore and Nationalism (co-edited with K. L. Tuteja, 2017), Indigeneity, Tales and Alternatives (2017), The Politics of Belonging in Contemporary India: Anxiety and Intimacy (edited volume, 2020), Queering Tribal Folktales from East and Northeast India (2020) and Nations and Nationalisms: A Short Introduction (2021).

Anup Shekhar Chakraborty is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science and Political Studies at Kolkata’s Netaji Institute for Asian Studies and a member of the Mahanirban Calcutta Research Group (MCRG). He received the IPSA National Young Political Scientist Award 2020; the IDRC, DEF, and IDF “India Social Science Research Award 2009”, and the “C.R. Parekh Fellowship (2011-2012)” at the Asia Research Centre of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He has published numerous works about the Zo/Mizo people. His most recent works include Braided Entanglements of Identities, Religion, and Politics in Mizoram (2020); Religion and Politics in Mizoram (2019); and Death and Dying in Northeast India: Indigeneity and Afterlife (co-edited with P. Sen, 2023). He serves as one of the Guest Editors for the Special Issue on “LGBTQ+ People in Situations of Forced Displacement”, Oxford Journal of Refugee Studies.

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