Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India | 
 enlarge | Author: Serena Nanda
Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $41.95
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Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 16605
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.4
ISBN: 0534509037
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.30954
EAN: 9780534509033
ASIN: 0534509037
Publication Date: November 30, 1998
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Product Description
This ethnography is a cultural study of the Hijras of India, a religious community of men who dress and act like women. It focuses on how Hijras can be used in the study of gender categories and human sexual variation.
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| Customer Reviews:
 review of neither man nor woman June 10, 2004
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I found this book very interesting and informative. I had read accounts of this type of goddess worship in ancient records (greek and roman)when I was a teenager but there was little cultural context and no rationale concerning the practices of emasculation. This book answered a lot of questions, why the operation, what the benefit to the devotee, who were these worshippers. I enjoyed finelly getting the answers to decades long questions.
Unforgettable! May 28, 2001
20 out of 21 found this review helpful
A classic, absolutely fascinating study of the transvestite eunuch hijras of India. Combining objectivity with sympathy and respect, the writer allows us to glimpse the feelings and aspirations of these people, whose lives encompass joy, sadness, degradation, liberation, hope. The reader comes to know the hijras as real people while gaining an understanding of a very ancient and significant way of life. Nanda's lucid writing and subtle insights are augmented by a marvelous collection of color photographs and vivid case histories, including numerous first person accounts. This book is a model for ethnographic study and will leave an indelible impression on the heart and mind of anyone who reads it.
 Interesting ethnography May 31, 2000
9 out of 21 found this review helpful
This was a very interesting book on a very interesting group of people. Nanda did a superb job of describing the Hijras in the context of Indian society. The personal accounts of individual Hijras added a great perspective. My one problem with this book is that throughout, while striving to show the validity of the concept of more than two genders, Nanda gave the impression that she feels that the Western cultural concept of gender dichotomy is backward and naive. To me, this felt like an attack on Western culture, which I do not look for in supposedly unbiased ethnographies.
Nanda's Neither Man Nor Woman April 27, 2000
21 out of 23 found this review helpful
While reading Nanda's Neither Man Nor Woman, I was struck by the sheer competancy and volume of her research. She truly gives a vivid, accurate picture of hijra life, ritual, and social attitude. The hijras are a group of traveling performers/prostitiutes who participate in ritualized castration. They are often homosexual, transsexual, or impotent men who are endowed by society with religious authority. They worship the Hindu Goddess Bahuchara Mata and participate in theatrical blessings of male children and newly weds. Nanda documents their rituals and beliefs while also defining their function within mainstream Indian society. My only point of criticism with Nanda'e work is her slight failure to fully demystify some of the ambiguities surrounding the hijras. One is never really certain of the actual definition and occupation of the hijras. However, after doing research on the hijras, Nanda's book is truly the most accurate and unbiased research available on hijra life. I would recommend it strongly.
An Anthropological Study April 25, 2000
10 out of 13 found this review helpful
I found this book to be an intriguing and comprehensive analysis of the lives of the Hijras of India. Nanda through personal interviews and anthropological analysis paints a picture of their lives as both marginal and yet highly spiritual. She describes how in India the hijras play an important role in both the blessings of marriages and childbirth's. It also describes the process of decision making that they go through to become a true spiritual hijra by becoming eunuchs. It is an important study to read because it challenges ideas of sexuality and spirituality. By becoming a eunuch, the Hijras truly become neither man nor woman. With their spiritual connection, they also are able to feel a sense of pride in who they are. Although this does not mean that they are exempt from harassment, it gives them a spiritual capital with which to protect themselves. It is an important book to read as well because it challenges ideas of sexuality and especially homosexuality in the US and other cultures as well.
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