IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehl/lserod/118225.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Constructing subjects that matter: a case of conditional recognition for Pakistani Khawajasiras

Author

Listed:
  • Awan, Aqeel

Abstract

This paper examines how media discourses on gender and work play a part in regulating the lives of a community of Pakistani gender diverse people, called Khawajasiras. Devel-oping a critical discourse analysis of media news, we show how this regulatory process results in discursive mecha-nisms positioning Khawajasiras' work as “dirty” and in need of “respectable” and exclusively “feminine” alternatives. This regulatory process revolves around delegitimizing Khawaja-siras' non-normative work and their gender fluidity in the job market. Khawajasiras' recognition is thus conditional upon their reproduction of a socially heteronormative notion of work and gender. We conclude that this regula-tory process not only forecloses possibilities of resignifica-tion for this historically disenfranchised community but also risks producing new forms of abjection by enforcing notions of “fake” (with an implicitly assumed notion of “authentic”) Khawajasira. The findings of this paper ultimately problem-atize contemporary ideals of recognition of non-normative gendered groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Awan, Aqeel, 2023. "Constructing subjects that matter: a case of conditional recognition for Pakistani Khawajasiras," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 118225, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:118225
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/118225/
    File Function: Open access version.
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alison Pullen & Torkild Thanem & Melissa Tyler & Louise Wallenberg & Sara Louise Muhr & Katie Rose Sullivan & Craig Rich, 2016. "Situated Transgressiveness: Exploring One Transwoman's Lived Experiences across Three Situated Contexts," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 52-70, January.
    2. Agnès Vayreda & Ester Conesa & Beatriz Revelles‐Benavente & Ana M. González Ramos, 2019. "Subjectivation processes and gender in a neoliberal model of science in three Spanish research centres," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 430-447, May.
    3. Alison Pullen & Torkild Thanem & Melissa Tyler & Louise Wallenberg & Alison Pullen & Torkild Thanem & Melissa Tyler & Louise Wallenberg, 2016. "Sexual Politics, Organizational Practices: Interrogating Queer Theory, Work and Organization," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(1), pages 1-6, January.
    4. Angelo Benozzo & Maria Chiara Pizzorno & Huw Bell & Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, 2015. "Coming Out, But Into What? Problematizing Discursive Variations of Revealing the Gay Self in the Workplace," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(3), pages 292-306, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muhammad Aqeel Awan & Daniela Pianezzi, 2023. "Constructing subjects that matter: A case of conditional recognition for Pakistani Khawajasiras," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1124-1141, May.
    2. Chloé Vitry, 2021. "Queering space and organizing with Sara Ahmed’s Queer Phenomenology," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 935-949, May.
    3. David Watson & Angelo Benozzo & Roberta Fida, 2024. "Trans People in the Workplace: Possibilities for Subverting Heteronormativity," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 38(3), pages 744-765, June.
    4. Saoirse Caitlin O'Shea, 2020. "Working at gender? An autoethnography," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1438-1449, November.
    5. Emma Jeanes & Kirsty Janes, 2021. "Trans men doing gender at work," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 1237-1259, July.
    6. Rhea Ashley Hoskin & Lilith A. Whiley, 2023. "Femme‐toring: Leveraging critical femininities and femme theory to cultivate alternative approaches to mentoring," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(4), pages 1317-1333, July.
    7. Helena Liu, 2017. "Sensuality as Subversion: Doing Masculinity with Chinese Australian Professionals," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 194-212, March.
    8. Enrico Fontana, 2020. "Managing diversity through transgender inclusion in developing countries: A collaborative corporate social responsibility initiative from Bangladesh," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(6), pages 2548-2562, November.
    9. Matthew Egan & Barbara de Lima Voss, 2023. "Ephemeral promises of happiness: Coming out in the Australian accounting profession into the late 2010s," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(6), pages 2033-2048, November.
    10. Aleksi Soini, 2022. "A gay reflection on microaggressions, symbolic normativities, and pink hair," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(5), pages 1594-1611, September.
    11. Sophie Hennekam & Jean‐pierre Dumazert, 2023. "Intersectional (in)visibility of transgender individuals with an ethnic minority background throughout a gender transition: Four longitudinal case studies," Post-Print hal-04249878, HAL.
    12. Katherine Doerr, 2024. "“Flying under the radar”: Postfeminism and teaching in academic science," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(3), pages 710-726, May.
    13. Christy Glass & Alison Cook, 2020. "Performative contortions: How White women and people of colour navigate elite leadership roles," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(6), pages 1232-1252, November.
    14. Sait Bayrakdar & Andrew King, 2022. "Job Satisfaction and Sexual Orientation in Britain," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 36(1), pages 21-39, February.
    15. Kirsten Locke & Rebecca W. B. Lund & Susan Wright, 2021. "Rethinking gender equity in the contaminated university: A methodology for listening for music in the ruins," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(3), pages 1079-1097, May.
    16. Fabio Fasoli & David M. Frost & Harley Serdet, 2024. "How voice transition and gender identity disclosure shape perceptions of trans men in the hiring process," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(1), pages 36-58, January.
    17. Kate Kenny & Mahaut Fanchini, 2024. "Troubling organizational violence with Judith Butler: Surviving whistleblower reprisals," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 1425-1443, July.
    18. Pierre Lescoat, 2023. "Queering the pandemic at work, a fictocritical tale," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 1037-1041, May.
    19. Sophie Hennekam & Jean‐Pierre Dumazert, 2023. "Intersectional (in)visibility of transgender individuals with an ethnic minority background throughout a gender transition: Four longitudinal case studies," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(5), pages 1585-1610, September.
    20. Ludovico V. Virtù, 2020. "Displacing the Gender Binary Through Modes of Dis/Organizing: Sex Toys, Sexuality and Trans Politics," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(3), pages 321-331.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    discourse; Khawajasira; Pakistan; third gender; work; discourses;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J50 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:118225. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: LSERO Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/lsepsuk.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.