Disasters and the “Other Gender”: Exploring the Experiences of the Hijra Community in Disasters in India

Talking about power is very important. Especially in a post-colonial context, where the residues of colonial discourses still impact the lives of vulnerable groups. In disaster scholarship, the binary representation of gender categories has dominated the idea of gender for a long time. This Western understanding has often overlooked the contextual realities across different societies and been imposed on rest of the world. The synonymous use of “gender” and “women” have resulted in normative policies and frameworks that excludes a variety of gender diverse groups. The Hijra community (oldest known non-binary group in India) is one such group that have faced the consequences of this interpretation. With limited access to education, health services, safe shelter, public programs, employment, they also face verbal and physical abuse, resulting in economic challenges and health concerns. Thus, making them highly vulnerable to hazards. Increased frequency of unprecedented extreme weather events has caused largescale destruction globally and similar was the case of Cyclone Fani that hit the eastern coast of India in 2019. These groups were affected differentially because of their existing vulnerabilities, which exacerbated during this time, with very limited resources to cope. However, this did not stop them from showing their agency as they contributed to relief processes. Learning from these lived experiences, this qualitative research set in Odisha, India, explores disasters from a queer theory viewpoint and social constructivism, their capacities, and challenges, through a critical ethnography approach. Setting the regional socio-cultural and political conditions against the environmental factors, it further explores the idea of gender justice in disaster related policy, practice, and research. Thus, questioning the creation of “categories” and “labels” of the “vulnerable” to explore their othering, hybrid identities, power relations, control, and the ability to negotiate with dominant groups, aimed towards more gender sensitive and inclusive disaster risk reduction.