In this reading list for LGBT+ History Month 2025, Rohit K. Dasgupta<\/strong> (LSE Department of Gender Studies) shares a selection of 10 recent books exploring LGBTQ+ culture, politics and history in South Asia<\/em> that have motivated and inspired his research.<\/em><\/p>\n LGBT+ History Month is celebrated in Britain every February, marking the abolition of Section 28<\/a> in 2003. For those unfamiliar with Section 28, it was a clause in the Local Government Act which prohibited local authorities (including local authority funded schools\/institutions) from \u201cpromoting homosexuality.\u201d This year\u2019s theme, Activism and Social Change<\/a>, is especially timely given the fragile global moment we are witnessing, with authoritarian governments rolling back queer and trans rights worldwide.<\/p>\n As a scholar of South Asian popular culture and queer Below is a selection of books from the last five years that have provided me with strength, solace and scholarly motivation. This list includes both creative and academic works, reflecting my own bias and interests, as with any such list. <\/p>\n Gopinath\u2019s study of the aesthetic practices of queer diasporas spans South Asian, Middle Eastern, and African visual artists, offering an unruly gaze on regional curatorial practices and archives as a critical intervention in the field. Films, paintings, photography, and poetry come together in an exploration of visual practices that propose new mappings of space and sexuality, offering an alternative framework for understanding South Asian diasporic cultural and creative practices. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Luther and Ung Loh\u2019s edited volume is a comprehensive attempt to theorise queerness beyond a Western framework. With case studies from South and East Asia, as well as the diasporas, the book offers a pan-Asian perspective on queer identities and movements, bringing them into a productive dialogue with one another. By reimagining the limitations of queer area studies, the authors challenge scholarly discourse, offering multiple decolonial analytical perspectives. The volume draws from three years of Queer Asia conferences held in London<\/a>, making it a significant contribution to the field. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This Lambda Literary Award-winning book is a poignant autobiography of Habib, whose family left Pakistan as Ahmadi Muslims to escape persecution. As Habib explores her sexuality and grapples with a sense of abandonment by her faith, she recounts her journey towards self-acceptance. As a first-generation immigrant, she also reflects on her experiences of growing up in Canada \u2013 learning a new language and navigating coping mechanisms within the whiteness of her new environment. Eventually leaving home and discovering an inclusive Islam where she felt safe, Habib\u2019s story is one of resilience. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Khubchandani\u2019s latest book is truly one of a kind. Elegant and playful, they take the reader on a journey through Bangalore and Chicago, encountering desi <\/a>(a term used to describe people and cultures of South Asia and their diaspora) drag queens, queer activists, and party revellers. While exploring the often-transformative possibilities of gay nightlife spaces, the author also critiques the hierarchies of race, caste, and religion that determine one\u2019s access and exclusion. A significant contribution to queer labour and urban studies. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n This part memoir, part guide is filled with anecdotes, interviews, and essays that celebrate Dhaliwal\u2019s identity as a queer Indian woman in a racialised Britain. She recounts harrowing experiences of racism, self-loathing, and the difficulties of growing up in an Asian family within a predominantly white community. It is a book that many South Asian diasporic individuals can relate to. Dhaliwal also turns her critique inwards, examining her own privilege and identity. The visual style of storytelling is provocative, creative, and deeply cathartic. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Hossain has conducted extensive ethnographic research among hijras in Bangladesh for decades. The book offers a nuanced picture of the lives of sexual and gender minorities, exploring representation, desire, and religion. What does it mean to \u201cmake\u201d a hijra<\/a>\u00a0subject? Hossain argues that hijra identity is an achieved status rather than an ascribed one. Chapters examine kinship-making, rituals, and intimate practices, offering rich insights into these communities. Crucially, the book challenges the India-centric lens often used to interpret hijra identities, providing a fresh perspective on gender and sexuality in South Asia. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Kasmani\u2019s elegantly written book is a rich ethnography of Sufi fakirs in Pakistan. Employing concepts such as intimacy, longing, and queer religiosity, Kasmani rightly notes that queer is not solely a figure of sexuality. They explore the intersection of queer and religious studies, questioning what it means to queer religiosity \u2013 thus problematising and expanding queerness beyond rights-based frameworks. The saintly object of affection offers alternative sites of worldmaking and new possibilities. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Arondekar requires little introduction to scholars of queer studies. From her first book, For the Record<\/em> to Abundance<\/em>, she employs painstaking archival research to move beyond narratives of loss and failure, as well as the notion of \u201cspeaking for\u201d marginalised communities. Through a study of the Gomantak Maratha Samaj, a devadasi collective \u2013 \u00a0Arondekar critiques the narrow focus of sexuality studies on defining \u2018queer\u2019. Instead, she conceptualises sexuality as an ongoing practice of abundance, honouring real lived experiences and offering a new way of reading histories of sexuality. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In this book, Banerjea and Browne explore what makes life liveable for LGBT+ people. Challenging the assumption that the Global North is inherently progressive, they critique the idea that policy change automatically leads to social justice. Through a creative participatory framework, they reimagine survival and liveability. The book also serves as an excellent example of ethical queer methodology, both in data collection and in theorising queer lives. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Dutta\u2019s book shifts the focus of Indian queer studies away from urban-centric gay men, offering a new theoretical and ethnographic framework to study non-elite and non-metropolitan communities of kothis<\/a>\u00a0and hijras in Eastern India. They rightly critique the hierarchies within activist politics, which often exclude these communities from transnational queer movements, thereby reinforcing class and caste divisions. By introducing vernacularisation as an analytical framework, Dutta challenges the dominant influence of transnational queer activism, particularly its alignment with global capitalism. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Note:<\/strong> This reading list gives the views of the author, not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of the London School of Economics and Political Science.<\/em> <\/p>\n Enjoyed this post?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Subscribe to our newsletter<\/em><\/a>\u00a0for a round-up of the latest reviews sent straight to your inbox every other Tuesday.<\/em><\/p>\n
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\npolitics, this theme holds particular significance, given the legacy of British
\nimperialism in shaping homophobia across Commonwealth nations \u2013 most notably
\nthrough Section
\n377, which criminalised homosexuality in South Asian countries<\/a> where
\nactivists continue to challenge the State fighting for social change.<\/p>\n
\nUnruly Visions: The Aesthetic practices of Queer Diaspora<\/em>. Gayatri Gopinath. Duke University Press. 2018.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nQueer Asia: Decolonising and Reimagining Sexuality and Gender<\/em>. J. Daniel Luther and Jennifer Ung Loh. Bloomsbury. 2019.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nWe Have Always Been here: A Queer Muslim Memoir<\/em>. Samra Habib. Riverrun. 2019.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nI<\/strong><\/em>shtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife<\/em>. Kareem Khubchandani. University of Michigan Press. 2020.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nBurning my Roti: Breaking Barriers as a Queer Indian Woman<\/em>. Sharan Dhaliwal. Hardie Grant Books. 2022.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nB<\/strong><\/em>eyond Emasculation: Pleasure and Power in the Making of Hijra in Bangladesh<\/em>. Adnan Hossain. Cambridge University Press. 2022.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nQueer Companions: Religion, Public Intimacy, and Saintly Affect in Pakistan<\/em>. Omar Kasmani. Duke University Press. 2022.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nAbundance: Sexuality\u2019s History<\/em>. Anjali Arondekar. Duke University Press. 2023.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nLiveable Lives: Living and Surviving LGBTQ Equalities in India and the UK<\/em>. Niharika Banerjea and Kath Browne. Bloomsbury. 2023.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\nGlobalizing through the Vernacular: Kothis, Hijras and the making of Queer and Trans identities in India<\/em>. Aniruddha Dutta. Bloomsbury. 2024.<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
![\"Globalizing-through-the-Vernacular-Kothis-Hijras-and-the-making-of-Queer-and-Trans-identities-in-India.-Aniruddha-Dutta\"](\"https:\/\/blogsmedia.lse.ac.uk\/blogs.dir\/30\/files\/2025\/02\/Globalising-through-the-Vernacular-Kothis-Hijras-and-the-making-of-Queer-and-Trans-identities-in-India.-Aniruddha-Dutta.-Bloomsbury.-2024.-683x1024.jpg\")
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