TRANS/NATIONAL is a podcast that exclusively uplifts the political activism and artistic interventions of religiously marginalized queer, transgender and gender-diverse South Asians both within the homelands and in the Western diaspora. Focusing primarily on gender-variant activists, changemakers, and healers, the podcast will spotlight how these visionary individuals and collectives are confronting authoritarian power, transforming their everyday relationships, learning from failure, and envisioning liberatory futures. The podcast will release episodes on a regular basis focusing on topics that sit at the intersections of Islamophobia, annihilation of caste and cis Brahminical patriarchy, intergenerational trauma (and wisdom), disability, imperialism, anti-police, anti-occupation, anti-militarism, and queer/transphobia. The series aims to interrupt Savarna and Brahminical led ways of producing and circulating knowledge, and co-optation of progressive spaces that is endemic within South Asian spheres. Hosted by Bangladeshi Muslim transmasculine artist and activist, Mikail Rahman Khan, the series will be an incubator for imaginative and overlooked narratives, as well as critical interventions that need to be made in this heightened moment of South Asia’s political trajectory.

TRANS/NATIONAL is also available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Toward a trans politic of love and claiming the thirunangai identity – TRANS/NATIONAL

A. Revathi is a writer, performer, activist and a thirunangai-hijra-trans woman from southern India. Revathi’s books are now part of academic curricula in India and elsewhere and her work has been vital in the context of trans rights and LGBTQ activism in India. Mikail Khan speaks to Revathi about her early life history, how sex work and begging are still prevalent among thirunangai, hijra and transfemme communities in India and South Asia, inclusion of trans men in transgender discourses, and why its important to link trans rights conversations alongside other interconnected struggles. Many thanks to Annirudh for kindly doing live Tamil and English interpretation on this episode!

1. Toward a trans politic of love and claiming the thirunangai identity 01:19:09
2. No Savarna Saviors: Nepal’s Dalit Queer + Trans Movement 01:19:33
3. Defying Nationalist Logics: Bangladeshi Adivasiqueer Insistence Through Art 01:04:57
4. Retellings and Reimaginings: Rejecting Brahminical patriarchy as a thirunambi (திருநம்பி) artist 45:43
5. Nonbinary Finery and Dreaming Anti-Caste Futures 45:20