CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Titir, Abdullah |
|---|---|
| Title | Queer Activism, Resistance, Reform, and the Promise of Decoloniality in Bangladesh |
| Summary | In this thesis, I explore how queer and non-normative identities and positionalities are shaped in Bangladesh, in the midst of certain power dynamics that are created through the interactions of state authorities, legal frameworks, non-state actors such as NGOs and their foreign donors, and different queer communities with their specific interests regarding visibility and recognition, and individual stakes in politics of identity-making. I use decolonial theory, in particular de-linking through applying a queer of colour critique, to interrogate these dynamics and to see understand queer community members navigate their non-conforming identities as they engage with restrictive laws that retain colonial practices and sanctions; Western identity frameworks; and NGO-isation. I highlight the limits of de-linking, and the obstacles in the project of decoloniality in the context of queer and non-conforming identities in Bangladesh, as coloniality is still very much existent and persistent in the contexts inhabited by queer Bangladeshis. I contend that NGO influence has been quite integral to queer identity-making and has shaped the aims of the current queer rights movement in Bangladesh, as various queer community groups are collaborating with NGOs and adapting to their specific understandings and categories of gender and/or sexual identities to have access to networks, funding, and resources for their respective communities. The colonial categorisation of gender is still central to demands for gender identity recognition, as the current picture of queer activism for inclusive recognition through legal reform suggests. I discuss that decolonising is necessary, but not entirely possible in this context as every actor involved in advocacy, activism, and reform processes is implicated in the ongoing coloniality, perpetuated by legal mechanisms and state administrative systems that retain and function through colonial frameworks. |
| Supervisor | Qubaiova, Adriana |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/titir_abdullah.pdf |
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