The Unexpected Intersection of Queer Rights and Linguistic Rights in Nepal

Beschreibung

Human rights are multifaceted so perhaps it should not be unexpected that queer rights and linguistic rights would intersect. But how and in what context do they converge in Nepal? Nepal is frequently heralded as a “beacon for LGBTQ+ rights” because of its progressive laws for gender and sexuality minorities. However, there is a tangible gap between the law and everyday lived reality for queer-identifying Nepalis. Similarly, native language rights are recognized in Nepal’s 2015 constitution but are often not recognized in the daily lived experiences of marginalized, minoritized linguistic speakers, namely, ethnic Nepalis whose native language is not Nepali. This talk focuses on linguistic activism in the work of Nepal’s Queer Youth Group (QYG), a grassroots queer activist organization founded in 2018. A key facet of QYG’s queer activism focuses on vernacular representation, translation, and accessibility for and of people of diverse gender identities and sexualities within Nepal’s multilingual population. Their work simultaneously highlights the central role of language in affirming identity and ensuring dignity for queer people and the ongoing challenge for many ethnic queer Nepalis of communicating in Nepali, much less English, which are the two dominant languages of “mainstream” queer activism in Nepal. This talk examines the genesis and examples of QYG’s ongoing linguistic and translation work and argues that QYG activists have inadvertently become leaders in fighting for native language rights as part of their intersectional queer world-making.

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Jessica Vantine Birkenholtz is Associate Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Asian Studies at The Pennsylvania State University, USA. She is a feminist scholar of religion who specializes in women, gender, and religion, especially Hinduism, in South Asia. She has been doing research in Nepal since the late 1990s. She is currently working on an ethnographic book project tentatively titled Queermandu: Intersections of Religion, Ethnicity, Caste, and Queerness in Nepal.

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Veranstalter

Institut für Südasien- , Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde

Kontakt

Judith Starecek
Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde
4277 43501
istb(at)univie.ac.at

Erstellt am Montag, 28. September 2026, 10:41
Letzte Änderung am Mittwoch, 30. September 2026, 14:30