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IIM Indore

Humanities and Social Sciences

Culture, health &amp; sexuality

Kanjar subculture: socialisation for sex work amongst traditional entertainers in India

Sex work is perceived as an undesirable activity in India. It is widely believed that sex workers are either the victims of trafficking or have taken up sex work out of compulsion. Furthermore, it is often assumed that people who pursue sex work live in brothels or solicit customers outside their homes. Drawing on findings from an ethnographic study of the Kanjar community of northern India, this paper argues to the contrary. Veering away from accounts of individual women as victims, this paper focuses on dhandha (sex work) as a ‘legitimate’ community practice. For the Kanjars, sex work is a traditional occupation with a long complex history and a distinct subculture embedded in its economic structure. For those involved, the family economy is based on the labour and earnings of unmarried women who earn income as dhandhewalis (sex workers). Sex work may not be an option that Kanjars choose, but it is certainly a practice that they are neither ashamed of, nor apologetic about. Their positive, if not defiant, attitude can be understood in the context of the specific subculture of the Kanjars. The term ‘subculture’ as used here being specific to the community and its traditions, as distinct from dominant mainstream Indian culture.

Culture, health & sexuality

<a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13691058.2019.1705397">Kanjar subculture: socialisation for sex work amongst traditional entertainers in India</a>

This article seeks to understand the idea of criminal tribes, which was based on British belief about crime in their own country, England and later adapted and imposed upon Indian nomads. An analysis of biological criminals in England and hereditary criminal tribes in India is presented in the later part. The article discourses the idea of 'caste', 'class' and 'tribe' which British officials used interchangeably in the context of Indian social structure. The discussion concludes by looking at the different debates on the making of the criminal tribes, the forces of change, which transformed certain nomadic communities of India as Criminal Tribes.

International Journal of Criminal Justice Sciences

<a href="https://search.proquest.com/openview/64d1aaad68df8cbe660a9f3cf726ebd6/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&amp;cbl=55115">Born Criminals: The making of Criminal Tribes during the Colonial period in India</a>

Creative Engagements with Children: Inside and Outside School Contexts

Creating Learning Space for the Children of Sex-Workers AND DENOTIFIED TRIBES

WORDPRESS

A new hope for India's girls born into prostitution

This chapter explores the possibilities of working with children of traditional sex workers of denotified tribes in Rajasthan, India. Education is the most irrelevant and uninteresting thing for the whole Kanjar community as it does not provide good income, good life, etc. to members of the community under focus. This chapter is based on primary field work done on the community for last eight years. Field work has been conducted in hamlets of traditional sex-workers in the rural areas of Rajasthan and Madhaya Pradesh. It explores how an education system could succeed in achieving the encouraging bondage of community with its schools. The chapter also explores the complex issues which surround the notion and practices of illiteracy, negligence of community towards education and their cultural references. It sheds light on creative engagements of community in areas of planning, resourcing, organisation, management and assessment of schools. It further develops new ideas, which could develop children’s interest in school as these children have different needs. Their community set-up is different and they cannot be taught in normal schools with children of society at large. They need special schools with a single teacher who can identify with them and their family background. Driving principles in achieving such a level of community participation, like vision, mission and leading from the front by the new pattern schools, teaching team could cause resonance everywhere.

<a href="https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9781848881075/BP000016.xml">Creating Learning Space for the Children of Sex-Workers AND DENOTIFIED TRIBES</a>