Ruth Vanita

Bio: Ruth Vanita is an academic researcher from University of Montana. The author has contributed to research in topics: Hinduism & Urdu. The author has an hindex of 13, co-authored 42 publications receiving 674 citations.

Queering India: Same-Sex Love and Eroticism in Indian Culture and Society

Abstract: Introduction by Ruth Vanita. I. Colonial Transitions 1.The Politics of Penetration: Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code 2. Sultan Mahmud's Make-Over: Colonial Homophobia and the Persian-Urdu Literary Tradition 3. Doganas and Zanakhis: The Invention and Subsequent Erasure of Urdu Poetry's "Lesbian" Voice 4. Alienation, Intimacy, and Gender: Problems for a History of Love in South Asia 5. Eunuchs, Lesbians, and Other Mystical Beasts: Queering and De-Queering the Kamasutra II. The Visions of Fiction 6. Loving Well: Homosexuality and Utopian Thought in Post/Colonial India 7. "Do I Remove My Skin?": Interrogating Identity in Suniti Namjoshi's Fables 8. "Queerness All Mine": Same-Sex Desire in Kamala Das's Fiction and Poetry 9. Homophobic Fiction/Homoerotic Advertising: The Pleasures and Perils of Twentieth-Century Indianness 10. What Mrs. Besahara Saw: Reflections on the Gay Goonda III. Performance Pleasures in Theatre, TV, and Cinema 11. A Different Desire, A Different Femininity: Theatrical Transvestism in the Parsi, Gujarati, and Marathi Theatres, 1850-1940 12. Queer Bonds: Male Friendships in Contemporary Malayalam Cinema 13. "I Sleep Behind you": Male Homosociality and Homoeroticism in Indian Parallel Cinema 14. Queer Pleasures for Queer People: Film, Television, and Queer Sexuality in India 15. On Fire: Sexuality and its Incitements 16. After the Fire: Smoldering Questions about Representation

Same-sex love in India : readings from literature and history

Abstract: PART I: INTRODUCTION: ANCIENT INDIAN MATERIALS Vyasa's Mahabharata : Sikhandin's Sex Change (Sanskrit) Manikantha Jataka (Pali) Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantra (Sanskrit) Vatsyayana's Kamasutra (Sanskrit) PART II: INTRODUCTION: MEDIEVAL MATERIALS IN THE SANSKRATIC TRADITION Bhagvata Purana : The Embrace of Shiva and Vishnu (Sanskrit) Skanda Purana : Sumedha and Somavan (Sanskrit) Shiva Purana : The Birth of Kartikeya (Sanskrit) Shiva Purana : The Birth of Ganesha (Sanskrit) Somadeva Bhatta's Kathasaritsagara : Kalingasena and Somaprabha (Sanskrit) Padma Purana : Arjuni (Sanskrit) Ayyappa and Vavar: Celibate Friends Krittivasa Ramayana : The Birth of Bhagiratha (Bengali) Jagannath Das (Oriya) PART III: INTRODUCTION: MEDIEVAL MATERIALS IN THE PERSO-URDU TRADITION Amir Khusro (Persian and Hindvi) Ziauddin Barani: The Khaljis in Love (Persian) The Mirror of Secrets : 'Akhi' Jamshed Rajgiri (Persian) Baburnama (Turkish) 'Mutribi' Samarqandi: The Fair and the Dark Boys (Persian) Haqiqat al-Fuqara : Poetic Biography of "Madho Lal" Hussayn (Persian), with Hussayn's poems (Punjabi) Sarmad (Persian) Muhammad Akram 'Ghanimat' Kanjohi: Love's Sorcery (Persian) 'Abru': Advice to a Beloved (Urdu) Siraj Aurangabadi: The Garden of Delusion (Urdu) Mir Abdul Hai'Taban': The Lover Who Looked like a Beloved (Urdu) Dargah Quli Khan: Portrait of a City (Persian) Mir Taqi 'Mir': Autobiography and Poems (Persian and Urdu) PART IV: INTRODUCTION: MODERN INDIAN MATERIALS Nazir Akbaraadi (Urdu) Rekhti Poetry: Love Between Women (Urdu) Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (Bengali) Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Indira (Bengali) The Kamasutra in the Twentieth Century Gopabandhu Das: Poems Written in Prison (Oriya) The New Homophobia: Ugra's Chocolate (Hindi) M. K. Gandhi: Reply to a Query (English) Amrita Sher-Gil: Letters (English) Hakim Muhammad Yusuf Hasan: Do Shiza (Urdu) 'Firaq' Gorakhpuri: Poet vs. 'Critic' (Urdu) Sharada: 'Farewell' (Hindi) Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala': Kulli Bhaat (Hindi) Josh Malihabadi: 'There Will Never Be Another Like You' (Urdu) Ismat Chughatai: 'Tehri Lakeer' (Urdu) Rajendra Yadav: 'Waiting' (Hindi) Bhupen Khakhar: A Story (Gujarati) Kishori Charan Das: 'Sarama's Romjance' (Oriya) Kewal Sood: The Hen Coop (Hindi) Shobhana Siddique: 'Full to the Brim' (Hindi) V.T. Nandakumar: Two Girls (Malayalam) Vijay Dan Detha: 'A Double Life' (Jajasthani) Vikram Seth: Poems (English) Nirmala Deshpande: 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' (Marathi) Vijay Tendulkar: Mitra's Story (Marathi) Sunil Gangopadhyay: Those Days (Bengali) H.S. Shivaprakash: Shakespeare Dreamship (Kannada) Inez Vere Dullas: Poems (English) Hoshang Merchant: Poems for Vivan (English) Ambia: 'One Person and Another' (Tamil)

Same-sex love in India : readings from literature

Abstract: PART I: INTRODUCTION: ANCIENT INDIAN MATERIALS Vyasa's Mahabharata: Sikhandin's Sex Change (Sanskrit) Manikantha Jataka (Pali) Vishnu Sharma's Panchatantra (Sanskrit) Vatsyayana's Kamasutra (Sanskrit) PART II: INTRODUCTION: MEDIEVAL MATERIALS IN THE SANSKRATIC TRADITION Bhagvata Purana: The Embrace of Shiva and Vishnu (Sanskrit) Skanda Purana: Sumedha and Somavan (Sanskrit) Shiva Purana: The Birth of Kartikeya (Sanskrit) Shiva Purana: The Birth of Ganesha (Sanskrit) Somadeva Bhatta's Kathasaritsagara: Kalingasena and Somaprabha (Sanskrit) Padma Purana: Arjuni (Sanskrit) Ayyappa and Vavar: Celibate Friends Krittivasa Ramayana: The Birth of Bhagiratha (Bengali) Jagannath Das (Oriya) PART III: INTRODUCTION: MEDIEVAL MATERIALS IN THE PERSO-URDU TRADITION Amir Khusro (Persian and Hindvi) Ziauddin Barani: The Khaljis in Love (Persian) The Mirror of Secrets: 'Akhi' Jamshed Rajgiri (Persian) Baburnama (Turkish) 'Mutribi' Samarqandi: The Fair and the Dark Boys (Persian) Haqiqat al-Fuqara: Poetic Biography of "Madho Lal" Hussayn (Persian), with Hussayn's poems (Punjabi) Sarmad (Persian) Muhammad Akram 'Ghanimat' Kanjohi: Love's Sorcery (Persian) 'Abru': Advice to a Beloved (Urdu) Siraj Aurangabadi: The Garden of Delusion (Urdu) Mir Abdul Hai'Taban': The Lover Who Looked like a Beloved (Urdu) Dargah Quli Khan: Portrait of a City (Persian) Mir Taqi 'Mir': Autobiography and Poems (Persian and Urdu) PART IV: INTRODUCTION: MODERN INDIAN MATERIALS Nazir Akbaraadi (Urdu) Rekhti Poetry: Love Between Women (Urdu) Shri Ramakrishna Paramahansa (Bengali) Bankim Chandra Chatterjee: Indira (Bengali) The Kamasutra in the Twentieth Century Gopabandhu Das: Poems Written in Prison (Oriya) The New Homophobia: Ugra's Chocolate (Hindi) M. K. Gandhi: Reply to a Query (English) Amrita Sher-Gil: Letters (English) Hakim Muhammad Yusuf Hasan: Do Shiza (Urdu) 'Firaq' Gorakhpuri: Poet vs. 'Critic' (Urdu) Sharada: 'Farewell' (Hindi) Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala': Kulli Bhaat (Hindi) Josh Malihabadi: 'There Will Never Be Another Like You' (Urdu) Ismat Chughatai: 'Tehri Lakeer' (Urdu) Rajendra Yadav: 'Waiting' (Hindi) Bhupen Khakhar: A Story (Gujarati) Kishori Charan Das: 'Sarama's Romjance' (Oriya) Kewal Sood: The Hen Coop (Hindi) Shobhana Siddique: 'Full to the Brim' (Hindi) V.T. Nandakumar: Two Girls (Malayalam) Vijay Dan Detha: 'A Double Life' (Jajasthani) Vikram Seth: Poems (English) Nirmala Deshpande: 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' (Marathi) Vijay Tendulkar: Mitra's Story (Marathi) Sunil Gangopadhyay: Those Days (Bengali) H.S. Shivaprakash: Shakespeare Dreamship (Kannada) Inez Vere Dullas: Poems (English) Hoshang Merchant: Poems for Vivan (English) Ambia: 'One Person and Another' (Tamil)

Sappho and the Virgin Mary: Same-Sex Love and the English Literary Imagination

Abstract: This work looks at the legacy of love between women in the English canon from romantic to postcolonial literature. It examines layers of homoeroticism in works by male and female authors, and demonstrates the place of lesbian desire in the Western literary imagination.

Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science:

Abstract: SummaryOngoing political controversies around the world exemplify a long-standing and widespread preoccupation with the acceptability of homosexuality. Nonheterosexual people have seen dramatic surges both in their rights and in positive public opinion in many Western countries. In contrast, in much of Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Oceania, and parts of Asia, homosexual behavior remains illegal and severely punishable, with some countries retaining the death penalty for it. Political controversies about sexual orientation have often overlapped with scientific controversies. That is, participants on both sides of the sociopolitical debates have tended to believe that scientific findings-and scientific truths-about sexual orientation matter a great deal in making political decisions. The most contentious scientific issues have concerned the causes of sexual orientation-that is, why are some people heterosexual, others bisexual, and others homosexual? The actual relevance of these issues to social, political, and ethical decisions is often poorly justified, however.

With Respect to Sex: Negotiating Hijra Identity in South India

Abstract: "With Respect to Sex" is an intimate ethnography that offers a provocative account of sexual and social difference in India. The subjects of this study are "hijras" or the "third sex" of India-individuals who occupy a unique, liminal space between male and female, sacred and profane. "Hijras" are men who sacrifice their genitalia to a goddess in return for the power to confer fertility on newlyweds and newborn children, a ritual role they are respected for, at the same time as they are stigmatized for their ambiguous sexuality. By focusing on the "hijra" community, Gayatri Reddy sheds new light on Indian society and the intricate negotiations of identity across various domains of everyday life. Further, by reframing "hijra" identity through the local economy of respect, this ethnography highlights the complex relationships among local and global, sexual and moral, economies. This book will be regarded as the definitive work on "hijras," one that will be of enormous interest to anthropologists, students of South Asian culture, and specialists in the study of gender and sexuality.

Women, poverty and agricultural growth in India

Abstract: This article explores the interlinkages between gender, poverty and agricultural growth in India. It shows how women and female children of poor rural households bear a disproportionately high share of the burden of poverty. This is manifest especially in a systematic bias against females in the intra‐household distribution of food and health care. However, there are significant cross‐regional differences in the extent of the bias which is much higher in the north‐western states relative to the southern. Some of the likely factors ‐ economic, social, historical ‐ underlying these differences are discussed here. The specific problems of female‐headed households are separately considered. Also, the on‐going debate on the relationship between rural poverty and agricultural growth is critically examined. In addition, a detailed quantitative analysis is undertaken of the differential effects of the new agricultural technology, and associated growth, on the employment and earnings of female and male agricultura...

Alliances between Women: Overcoming Internalized Oppression and Internalized Domination

Abstract: The "Feminist Alliance Project" was organized in the Netherlands' in order to study and interrupt psychological processes that divide women from one another. Social divisions between women have been a primary focus of feminist scholarship, politics, and therapy for the last decade. This report does not attempt to review those developments; rather, it is a description and analysis of one project that was designed to nurture personal change, political strength, and theoretical understanding of divisions between women.2