Between ‘Cheeni’ and ‘Nupi Maanbi’: Transgender politics in Manipur at the intersection of nation and Indigeneity

ABSTRACT

The 2020 crime thriller web series Paatal Lok featured a Nepali trans woman by the name of Mary Lyngdoh who is referred to as ‘Cheeni’ (a racial epithet for persons from India’s Northeast region and East Asia). The series has been lauded for its inclusive representation of a transgender actor, Henthoi Mairembam from Manipur, yet the choice of a Khasi name, ‘Mary Lyngdoh’, for a Nepali character as well as the use of ‘Cheeni’ as an alias raise multiple questions about racialization and queer politics in India. This arbitrary racialized characterization in Paatal Lok and its queer Northeast representation can serve as critical points of departure to examine the emerging LGBTQ politics in Northeast India. This paper attempts to highlight the convergences and incommensurability of LGBTQ politics in the region, particularly in Manipur, with that of mainland India. Against the backdrop of the history of militarization and conflict in Northeast India, LGBTQ individuals migrants from the region are further racialized in India’s metropolitan centers. This geopolitical alienation is felt by LGBTQ persons from the Northeast at the scale of the body. LGBTQ politics in Manipur represents a new form of resistance that introduces ‘Indigeneity’ as an identity and an epistemic category to counter the assimilationist projects of Hindutva’s authoritarian nationalism.

KEYWORDS:

• Nupi Maanbi
• Indigeneity
• Northeast India
• popular culture
• Hindutva
• Pataal Lok

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. We use the words trans and queer as a way of marking diverse gender and sexual identities, trans/queer signifying multiple possibilities. The use of Nupi Maanbi and Chinki-Homo or queer is used to mark the ways our interlocutors choose to represent themselves in their interviews and creative projects.

2. Tango Charlie, “Reviewed by Jaspreet Pandohar”.

3. Tango Charlie, “Review by Ziya Us Salam”.

4. See Wouten and Subba, “The Indian Face,” 126–40.

5. For more on recent surge in racism, see Haokip, “From ‘Chinky’ to ‘Coronavirus’, 353–373.

6. The Nupi Maanbi’s engagement with trans peoples of other communities in Manipur is a crucial site to further investigate this question, which remains outside the scope of this article.

7. See Upadhyay, “Hindu Nation and its Queers,” 464–480.

8. See Da Costa and Da Costa, “Introduction,” 343–369.

9. See interview with Henthoi Mairembam in the Chinky Homo Project: https://thechinkyhomoproject.wordpress.com/2021/08/31/a-small-town-transgirl-to-becoming-an-actor-in-mumbai-henthoi-mairembam/.

10. See https://www.cnbctv18.com/buzz/seoul-connection-how-k-dramas-are-building-a-bridge-between-india-and-south-korea-6637411.htm.

11. See https://www.himalmag.com/chopsticks-in-manipur-korean-culture-india/.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maisnam Arnapal

Maisnam Arnapal is a Ph.D. student in Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research looks at the feminist, queer, and trans movements in Northeast India with a special focus on Manipur by dialoguing with decolonial/postcolonial, transnational, and critical race studies. His latest work, ”Gender, Indigeneity and the Second World War: The Battle of Kohima in Easterine Kire’s Mari” was published in Keeper of Stories: Critical Readings of Easterine Kire's Novels (Highlander Press, 2023).

Debanuj DasGupta

Debanuj DasGupta is an Assistant Professor of Feminist Studies at UCSB. Debanuj’s research and teaching focuses on racialized regulation of space, immigration detention, queer migrations and the global governance of migration, sexuality, and HIV. She is the co-editor of Friendship As Social Justice Activism: Critical Solidarities in Global Perspective (University of Chicago Press), Queering Digital India: Activisms, Identities and Subjectivities (University of Edinburgh Press), and “Queer Then & Now” (Feminist Press).