Third International Conference on Communication & Media Studies

Abstract

The khawajasiras (closely translated as male-to-female transgendered persons) of the Indo-Pak subcontinent were declared criminals by birth by the British colonizers of India, under the Criminal Tribes Act of 1871. In the colonial discourse, khawajasiras were seen as sexual deviants debasing the hetero-normative and gender binary driven social order. However, in recent times, after the historic verdict of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2009 to give the community equal citizenship rights, many positive actions are being taken for the community. This paper addresses to what extent the discourse in Pakistani newspapers about khawajasiras has stepped away from reinforcing the stereotypes and stigmas about the community that originated in the colonial times. The paper conducts qualitative critical discourse analysis of news reports regarding the community from 2009 to 2017 (approximately 850 news reports). The findings show a continuation, with some selective dis-continuation, of colonial influences. These findings will be discussed in light of the socio-political structure of the country.