Heteronormativity, Passionate Aesthetics and Symbolic Subversion in Asia

by Saskia E. Wieringa, Abha Bhaiya (Primary Contributor), Nursyahbani Katjasungkana (Primary Contributor)

This book examines life trajectories among three categories of women living beyond the bounds of heteronormativity in Jakarta and Delhi, two major cities with substantively different religious and social women who have lost their husbands, either through divorce or death; sex workers; and young, urban lesbians. Delhi has a large Hindu majority and a sizeable Muslim minority, amongst other religious and cultural pluralities. The Indian state is constitutionally committed to secularism and equal respect to all regions despite right-wing Hindu fundamentalism. Jakarta is the capital of a sprawling archipelago with a large variety of ethnic cultures, Indonesia having the largest Muslim population of the world, as well as sizeable ethnic and religious minorities comprising Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and others. The Indonesian state is constitutionally secular, but religion plays a large role in public life and is embedded in regulations that strongly impact people's private
lives. Recently, the

256 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2015

About the author

Saskia Eleonora Wieringa is a Dutch sociologist. She is a professor of Gender and Women's Same-Sex Relations Crossculturally at the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at the University of Amsterdam. The area of study was established by the Foundation for Lesbian and Gay Studies and sponsored by Hivos. From 1 April 2005 to 19 April 2012, she served as the director of Aletta, Institute for Women's History (currently Atria Institute on gender equality and women's history) in Amsterdam.

Reviews

[Carol Colfer]

An excellent book for those interested in gender and sexuality in India and Indonesia. I learned what the title meant (:-)), and found it useful for my own gender studies. It focused on widows, divorcees, lesbians, and others involved in non-conventional and/or non-heterosexual marriages/partnerships. the primary method was qualitative interviews with women who fit into the above categories in the two countries. The book outlined the kinds of difficulties such women have, fitting into their social contexts in which 'heteronormativity' reigns, and some of the strategies the women used to cope.

[Aliza Izet Hidayat]

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