"BETWEEN STIGMA AND SELFHOOD": A TRANSGENDER WOMAN'S JOURNEY OUTSIDE THE HIJRA TRADITION IN URBAN INDIA

This paper explores the lived experiences of Priya (pseudonym), a transgender woman in urban India who did not join any established Hijra gharana (community). Through a narrative approach, we trace her journey from childhood through education, work, and community interactions. We situate her voice within scholarly frameworks of gender performativity, cisnormativity, heteropatriarchy, marginality, invisibility, and resistance. Priya’s story illustrates how repeated gender performance solidifies identity (in line with Butler’s theory of performativity), while cisnormative pressures treat her as “abnormal” when she deviates from birth-assigned gender. We show how heteropatriarchal norms privilege male–female binaries, rendering those outside (like herself) socially invisible or marginalized. Despite this, Priya exercises agency and resistance by affirming her selfhood through education and employment. Our analysis preserves her voice while weaving in academic insights, aiming to contribute to qualitative transgender studies in India.