Exploring the rank awareness of Pakistani Khawaja Sara Community: An Interpretative analysis

Abstract

The Khawaja Sara or transgender community in South Asia is considered as one of the most oppressed community in South Asia. Paul Freire (1970) in Pedagogy of the Oppressed states that no oppressed should be named on behalf of the others; rather the researchers must always rely on first hand insights. Freire in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed has used the foundations of research by Amy Mindell regarding the ranks, their functions in terms of gender, ethnicity, social class, and functional diversity. Amy Mindell (2008) defines rank as the level of authority or power that an individual has in comparison to others in any given situation or context. The enactment of Transgender Protection Act (2018), gave the Khawaja Sara community in Pakistan their third gender identity, equality and protection but, it was seen as a threat to culture and religion. In the light of this controversy and Khawaja Sara community’s presence over new media; using it for their gender expression and advocacy. The current study therefore took an opportunity, to explore the awareness of ranks of Khawaja Sara community about themselves, their agency and the power structures that they encounter in their physical and virtual spaces through the lens of Mindell and Freire’s epistemology and how they utilize this awareness in navigation and self-protection within the community and society. Using in-depth semi-structured intensive interviews, interpretative phenomenology, convenience sampling and thematic analysis, the study found participants’ awareness about gender fluidity, legislation, new media and collectivist structures in society; how they use their awareness in strategizing their navigation and self-protection within the community and society.