arrow
Return

Casteless queer

delete2026-05-01
delete0
PRE
AI
R
Rana, Kumud *
DOI:10.1177/01417789261450883delete
deleteOriginal
deleteOriginal request for help
deleteShare
deleteSave
Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
This article takes the form of a deliberate monologue addressed to the figure of the 'casteless queer' in Nepal and South Asia due to the structural silences that make dialogue impossible. Drawing on Sharmila Rege's theorisation of 'casteless gender' and feminist standpoint theory, it conceptualises the casteless queer not as a fixed identity but as a location that can be inhabited across caste and ethnic positions. Through a critical reading of Nepali LGBTI+ and queer activism, the article shows how queerness is routinely articulated as independent of caste, Indigeneity and class, even as activism is densely populated by Adivasi-Janajatis and other marginalised groups. Centring Nepal's specific sociopolitical history, it challenges the conflation of Nepal with India and resists both the erasure and romanticisation of Indigeneity, insisting on its entanglement with caste. The article ultimately argues that the universal queer subject in South Asia is a distortion of the casteless queer and calls for a reorientation of queer studies that foregrounds Indigenous and Dalit epistemologies as sites of theory making.
Keywords:
casteless queer
caste
queer
Nepal
South Asia
Indigeneity
Indigenous queer
Dalit queer
lower-caste queer

Journal

F
Feminist Review
IF:
1.2
Papers:
18
Citations:
0

Organization

L
lancaster university
Scholars:
227
Papers: 133
Citations: 0
Cited Papers

Cited Papers

No cited papers available