Hijras, Queer Studies, Transgender Diaspora, Identity Politics, Neo-liberalism

North India, East India, South Asia

Banhishikha Ghosh is a Swiss Government Excellence PhD Scholar (ESKAS) under the chair of Prof. Dr. Johannes Quack at the Department of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies (ISEK), University of Zurich. She completed her Bachelors in Sociology from Presidency University, Kolkata. Thereafter, she completed her Masters and M. Phil program from CSSS/SSS, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She received Gold Medal for securing highest rank in both her Bachelors and Masters programs. As a part of her BA and MA thesis, she has conducted fieldwork among the hijra communities in West Bengal (Kolkata and Burdwan) and New Delhi. She has recently submitted her M. Phil thesis entitled, “Dynamics of Hijra Identity Construction in India” wherein she explored the dynamics in the realm of hijra identities across three historical periods: colonial India, post-independent India and Neo-liberal India. She has also conducted documentary research in the National Archives of India as a part of her M. Phil dissertation, wherein she looked at the administrative debates surrounding the identification of gender non-conforming individuals as Criminal Tribes in Northern India, spanning the time period from 1865 to 1875.