Among the Eunuchs

Among the Eunuchs

Author: Leyla Jagiella

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-02-15

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1787387569

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From an early age, Leyla Jagiella knew that she would be defined by two things: being Muslim and being trans. Struggling to negotiate these identities in her conservative, small hometown, she travelled to India and Pakistan, where her life was changed by her time among third-gender communities. Known as hijras in India, khwajasaras in Pakistan, these marginal communities have traditionally been politically and culturally important, respected for their supernatural powers to bless or curse, and often serving as eunuchs in Mughal India's palaces. But under British colonialism, the hijras were criminalised and persecuted, entrenching taboos they still battle today. Among the Eunuchs reveals vastly varied interpretations of religion, gender and sexuality, illuminating how deeply culture informs our experiences. As identity becomes an ideological battlefield, Jagiella complicates binaries and dogma with her rich personal reflections. Her fascinating journey speaks to all who find themselves juggling different kinds of belonging.


Book Synopsis Among the Eunuchs by : Leyla Jagiella

Download or read book Among the Eunuchs written by Leyla Jagiella and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-02-15 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From an early age, Leyla Jagiella knew that she would be defined by two things: being Muslim and being trans. Struggling to negotiate these identities in her conservative, small hometown, she travelled to India and Pakistan, where her life was changed by her time among third-gender communities. Known as hijras in India, khwajasaras in Pakistan, these marginal communities have traditionally been politically and culturally important, respected for their supernatural powers to bless or curse, and often serving as eunuchs in Mughal India's palaces. But under British colonialism, the hijras were criminalised and persecuted, entrenching taboos they still battle today. Among the Eunuchs reveals vastly varied interpretations of religion, gender and sexuality, illuminating how deeply culture informs our experiences. As identity becomes an ideological battlefield, Jagiella complicates binaries and dogma with her rich personal reflections. Her fascinating journey speaks to all who find themselves juggling different kinds of belonging.

Inside the World of the Eunuch

Inside the World of the Eunuch

Author: Melissa S. Dale

Publisher: Hong Kong University Press

Published: 2018-11-01

Total Pages: 236

ISBN-13: 9888455753

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The history of Qing palace eunuchs is defined by a tension between the role eunuchs were meant to play and the life they intended to live. This study tells the story of how a complicated and much-maligned group of people struggled to insert a degree of agency into their lives. Rulers of the Qing dynasty were determined to ensure the eunuchs’ subservience and to limit their influence by imposing a management style based upon strict rules, corporal punishment, and collective responsibility. Few eunuchs wielded significant political power or lived in a lavish style during the Qing dynasty. Emasculation and employment in the palace placed eunuchs at the center of the empire, yet also subjected them to servile status and marginalization by society. Seeking more control over their lives, eunuchs serving the Qing repeatedly tested the boundaries of subservience to the emperor and the imperial court. This portrait of eunuch society reveals that Qing palace eunuchs operated within two parallel realms, one revolving around the emperor and the court by day and another among the eunuchs themselves by night where they recreated the social bonds—through drinking, gambling, and opium smoking—denied them by their palace service. Far from being the ideal servants, eunuchs proved to be a constant source of anxiety and labor challenges for the Qing court. For a long time eunuchs have simply been cast as villains in Chinese history. Inside the World of the Eunuch goes beyond this misleadingly one-dimensional depiction to show how eunuchs actually lived during the Qing dynasty. “This book is a thorough and responsible account of eunuch life during the Qing dynasty, which takes us deep inside the Forbidden City and introduces the often underclass families who provided servants to the Qing monarchs.” —R. Kent Guy, University of Washington “This is a unique study of Chinese eunuchs, in which Melissa Dale proves that they were a necessary and vital presence in the palace of the last dynasty in China. She explores all aspects of their life to the end of their existence, while avoiding the temptation to sensationalize them.” —Keith McMahon, University of Kansas


Book Synopsis Inside the World of the Eunuch by : Melissa S. Dale

Download or read book Inside the World of the Eunuch written by Melissa S. Dale and published by Hong Kong University Press. This book was released on 2018-11-01 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of Qing palace eunuchs is defined by a tension between the role eunuchs were meant to play and the life they intended to live. This study tells the story of how a complicated and much-maligned group of people struggled to insert a degree of agency into their lives. Rulers of the Qing dynasty were determined to ensure the eunuchs’ subservience and to limit their influence by imposing a management style based upon strict rules, corporal punishment, and collective responsibility. Few eunuchs wielded significant political power or lived in a lavish style during the Qing dynasty. Emasculation and employment in the palace placed eunuchs at the center of the empire, yet also subjected them to servile status and marginalization by society. Seeking more control over their lives, eunuchs serving the Qing repeatedly tested the boundaries of subservience to the emperor and the imperial court. This portrait of eunuch society reveals that Qing palace eunuchs operated within two parallel realms, one revolving around the emperor and the court by day and another among the eunuchs themselves by night where they recreated the social bonds—through drinking, gambling, and opium smoking—denied them by their palace service. Far from being the ideal servants, eunuchs proved to be a constant source of anxiety and labor challenges for the Qing court. For a long time eunuchs have simply been cast as villains in Chinese history. Inside the World of the Eunuch goes beyond this misleadingly one-dimensional depiction to show how eunuchs actually lived during the Qing dynasty. “This book is a thorough and responsible account of eunuch life during the Qing dynasty, which takes us deep inside the Forbidden City and introduces the often underclass families who provided servants to the Qing monarchs.” —R. Kent Guy, University of Washington “This is a unique study of Chinese eunuchs, in which Melissa Dale proves that they were a necessary and vital presence in the palace of the last dynasty in China. She explores all aspects of their life to the end of their existence, while avoiding the temptation to sensationalize them.” —Keith McMahon, University of Kansas

Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule

Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule

Author: Norman A. Kutcher

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2018-07-31

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 0520969847

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Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule offers a new interpretation of eunuchs and their connection to imperial rule in the first century and a half of the Qing dynasty (1644–1800). This period encompassed the reigns of three of China’s most important emperors, men who were deeply affected by the great eunuch corruption of the fallen Ming dynasty. In this groundbreaking and deeply researched book, the author explores how Qing emperors sought to prevent a return of the harmful excesses of eunuchs and how eunuchs flourished in the face of the restrictions imposed upon them. We meet powerful eunuchs who faithfully served, and in some cases ultimately betrayed, their emperors. We also meet ordinary eunuchs whose lives, punctuated by dramas large and small, provide a fascinating perspective on the Qing palace world.


Book Synopsis Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule by : Norman A. Kutcher

Download or read book Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule written by Norman A. Kutcher and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2018-07-31 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule offers a new interpretation of eunuchs and their connection to imperial rule in the first century and a half of the Qing dynasty (1644–1800). This period encompassed the reigns of three of China’s most important emperors, men who were deeply affected by the great eunuch corruption of the fallen Ming dynasty. In this groundbreaking and deeply researched book, the author explores how Qing emperors sought to prevent a return of the harmful excesses of eunuchs and how eunuchs flourished in the face of the restrictions imposed upon them. We meet powerful eunuchs who faithfully served, and in some cases ultimately betrayed, their emperors. We also meet ordinary eunuchs whose lives, punctuated by dramas large and small, provide a fascinating perspective on the Qing palace world.

After Eunuchs

After Eunuchs

Author: Howard Chiang

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2018-08-07

Total Pages: 291

ISBN-13: 0231546335

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For much of Chinese history, the eunuch stood out as an exceptional figure at the margins of gender categories. Amid the disintegration of the Qing Empire, men and women in China began to understand their differences in the language of modern science. In After Eunuchs, Howard Chiang traces the genealogy of sexual knowledge from the demise of eunuchism to the emergence of transsexuality, showing the centrality of new epistemic structures to the formation of Chinese modernity. From anticastration discourses in the late Qing era to sex-reassignment surgeries in Taiwan in the 1950s and queer movements in the 1980s and 1990s, After Eunuchs explores the ways the introduction of Western biomedical sciences transformed normative meanings of gender, sexuality, and the body in China. Chiang investigates how competing definitions of sex circulated in science, medicine, vernacular culture, and the periodical press, bringing to light a rich and vibrant discourse of sex change in the first half of the twentieth century. He focuses on the stories of gender and sexual minorities as well as a large supporting cast of doctors, scientists, philosophers, educators, reformers, journalists, and tabloid writers, as they debated the questions of political sovereignty, national belonging, cultural authenticity, scientific modernity, human difference, and the power and authority of truths about sex. Theoretically sophisticated and far-reaching, After Eunuchs is an innovative contribution to the history and philosophy of science and queer and Sinophone studies.


Book Synopsis After Eunuchs by : Howard Chiang

Download or read book After Eunuchs written by Howard Chiang and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For much of Chinese history, the eunuch stood out as an exceptional figure at the margins of gender categories. Amid the disintegration of the Qing Empire, men and women in China began to understand their differences in the language of modern science. In After Eunuchs, Howard Chiang traces the genealogy of sexual knowledge from the demise of eunuchism to the emergence of transsexuality, showing the centrality of new epistemic structures to the formation of Chinese modernity. From anticastration discourses in the late Qing era to sex-reassignment surgeries in Taiwan in the 1950s and queer movements in the 1980s and 1990s, After Eunuchs explores the ways the introduction of Western biomedical sciences transformed normative meanings of gender, sexuality, and the body in China. Chiang investigates how competing definitions of sex circulated in science, medicine, vernacular culture, and the periodical press, bringing to light a rich and vibrant discourse of sex change in the first half of the twentieth century. He focuses on the stories of gender and sexual minorities as well as a large supporting cast of doctors, scientists, philosophers, educators, reformers, journalists, and tabloid writers, as they debated the questions of political sovereignty, national belonging, cultural authenticity, scientific modernity, human difference, and the power and authority of truths about sex. Theoretically sophisticated and far-reaching, After Eunuchs is an innovative contribution to the history and philosophy of science and queer and Sinophone studies.

The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty

The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty

Author: Shih-shan Henry Tsai

Publisher: SUNY Press

Published: 1996-01-01

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 9780791426876

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This book is the first on Chinese eunuchs in English and presents a comprehensive picture of the role that they played in the Ming dynasty, 1368-1644. Extracted from a wide range of primary and secondary source material, the author provides significant and interesting information about court politics, espionage and internal security, military and foreign affairs, tax and tribute collection, the operation of imperial monopolies, judiciary review, the layout of the palace complex, the Grand Canal, and much more. The eunuchs are shown to be not just a minor adjunct to a government of civil servants and military officers, but a fully developed third branch of the Ming administration that participated in all of the most essential matters of the dynasty. The veil of condemnation and jealousy imposed on eunuchs by the compilers of official history is pulled away to reveal a richly textured tapestry. Eunuchs are portrayed in a balanced manner that gives due consideration to able and faithful service along with the inept, the lurid, and the iniquitous.


Book Synopsis The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty by : Shih-shan Henry Tsai

Download or read book The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty written by Shih-shan Henry Tsai and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is the first on Chinese eunuchs in English and presents a comprehensive picture of the role that they played in the Ming dynasty, 1368-1644. Extracted from a wide range of primary and secondary source material, the author provides significant and interesting information about court politics, espionage and internal security, military and foreign affairs, tax and tribute collection, the operation of imperial monopolies, judiciary review, the layout of the palace complex, the Grand Canal, and much more. The eunuchs are shown to be not just a minor adjunct to a government of civil servants and military officers, but a fully developed third branch of the Ming administration that participated in all of the most essential matters of the dynasty. The veil of condemnation and jealousy imposed on eunuchs by the compilers of official history is pulled away to reveal a richly textured tapestry. Eunuchs are portrayed in a balanced manner that gives due consideration to able and faithful service along with the inept, the lurid, and the iniquitous.

The Perfect Servant

The Perfect Servant

Author: Kathryn M. Ringrose

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2007-11-01

Total Pages: 310

ISBN-13: 0226720160

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The Perfect Servant reevaluates the place of eunuchs in Byzantium. Kathryn Ringrose uses the modern concept of gender as a social construct to identify eunuchs as a distinct gender and to illustrate how gender was defined in the Byzantine world. At the same time she explores the changing role of the eunuch in Byzantium from 600 to 1100. Accepted for generations as a legitimate and functional part of Byzantine civilization, eunuchs were prominent in both the imperial court and the church. They were distinctive in physical appearance, dress, and manner and were considered uniquely suited for important roles in Byzantine life. Transcending conventional notions of male and female, eunuchs lived outside of normal patterns of procreation and inheritance and were assigned a unique capacity for mediating across social and spiritual boundaries. This allowed them to perform tasks from which prominent men and women were constrained, making them, in essence, perfect servants. Written with precision and meticulously researched, The Perfect Servant will immediately take its place as a major study on Byzantium and the history of gender.


Book Synopsis The Perfect Servant by : Kathryn M. Ringrose

Download or read book The Perfect Servant written by Kathryn M. Ringrose and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2007-11-01 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Perfect Servant reevaluates the place of eunuchs in Byzantium. Kathryn Ringrose uses the modern concept of gender as a social construct to identify eunuchs as a distinct gender and to illustrate how gender was defined in the Byzantine world. At the same time she explores the changing role of the eunuch in Byzantium from 600 to 1100. Accepted for generations as a legitimate and functional part of Byzantine civilization, eunuchs were prominent in both the imperial court and the church. They were distinctive in physical appearance, dress, and manner and were considered uniquely suited for important roles in Byzantine life. Transcending conventional notions of male and female, eunuchs lived outside of normal patterns of procreation and inheritance and were assigned a unique capacity for mediating across social and spiritual boundaries. This allowed them to perform tasks from which prominent men and women were constrained, making them, in essence, perfect servants. Written with precision and meticulously researched, The Perfect Servant will immediately take its place as a major study on Byzantium and the history of gender.

Memoirs of a Byzantine Eunuch

Memoirs of a Byzantine Eunuch

Author: Christopher Harris

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13:

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Captured and castrated as a boy, Zeno is sold into slavery in Constantinople. Bought by the greatest scholar of the age, he is soon drawn into a labyrinth of sex, heresy, murder and intrigue. Though the empire is threatened by a heretic uprising and a barbarian invasion, its rulers think only of themselves. In the cruel and glittering city of Constantinople, a ruthless general, a bisexual boy-emperor, a worldly patriarch, a peasant usurper and a half-Viking empress all vie for power. Unknown to them, the real power lies elsewhere, among the devious and decadent eunuchs of the palace. Zeno conspires, deceives, manipulates and murders, his divided loyalties leading him deeper into danger until he is forced to betray those he loves.


Book Synopsis Memoirs of a Byzantine Eunuch by : Christopher Harris

Download or read book Memoirs of a Byzantine Eunuch written by Christopher Harris and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captured and castrated as a boy, Zeno is sold into slavery in Constantinople. Bought by the greatest scholar of the age, he is soon drawn into a labyrinth of sex, heresy, murder and intrigue. Though the empire is threatened by a heretic uprising and a barbarian invasion, its rulers think only of themselves. In the cruel and glittering city of Constantinople, a ruthless general, a bisexual boy-emperor, a worldly patriarch, a peasant usurper and a half-Viking empress all vie for power. Unknown to them, the real power lies elsewhere, among the devious and decadent eunuchs of the palace. Zeno conspires, deceives, manipulates and murders, his divided loyalties leading him deeper into danger until he is forced to betray those he loves.

The Invisibles

The Invisibles

Author: Zia Jaffrey

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 1998-02-17

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 067974228X

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In this superb work of investigative reporting, Zia Jaffrey pursues the riddle of India's most elusive subculture, the cross-dressing and often-castrated figures known as "hijras" whose very name means neither male nor female. Are the hijras lucky or dangerous? Are they a nurturing community of outcasts or a criminal network that kidnaps and mutilates recruits? Do they number in the thousands or in the millions? As she talks with policemen, a unionizer of eunuchs, and with the hijras themselves, Jaffrey unravels veils of rumor and deception to locate the nature of our sexual and social thresholds, and the people who dwell on them. Deeply resonant, uniquely insightful, The Invisibles is an enthralling work. "A magnificent journey. Jaffrey writes about this fascinating and delicate subject with human understanding and warmth."--Ryszard Kapuscinski "Sensitively written...eloquent...and compassionate."--New York Times Book Review


Book Synopsis The Invisibles by : Zia Jaffrey

Download or read book The Invisibles written by Zia Jaffrey and published by Vintage. This book was released on 1998-02-17 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this superb work of investigative reporting, Zia Jaffrey pursues the riddle of India's most elusive subculture, the cross-dressing and often-castrated figures known as "hijras" whose very name means neither male nor female. Are the hijras lucky or dangerous? Are they a nurturing community of outcasts or a criminal network that kidnaps and mutilates recruits? Do they number in the thousands or in the millions? As she talks with policemen, a unionizer of eunuchs, and with the hijras themselves, Jaffrey unravels veils of rumor and deception to locate the nature of our sexual and social thresholds, and the people who dwell on them. Deeply resonant, uniquely insightful, The Invisibles is an enthralling work. "A magnificent journey. Jaffrey writes about this fascinating and delicate subject with human understanding and warmth."--Ryszard Kapuscinski "Sensitively written...eloquent...and compassionate."--New York Times Book Review

The Roman Castrati

The Roman Castrati

Author: Shaun Tougher

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2022-05-19

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1350188239

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Introduction: Eunichs in the Roman Empire -- Eunuchs of the Great Mother: The Galli in Rome -- Greeks Bearing Gifts: Terence's The Eunuch -- Of Seed and Spring: Eunuch Slaves of Imperial Rome -- Born Eunuchs: The Case of Favorinus of Arles -- Eusebius and His Kind: Court Eunuchs of the Later Roman Empire -- 'Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven': Self-Castration and Eunuchs in Early Christianity -- Military Eunuchs: The Case of Narses.


Book Synopsis The Roman Castrati by : Shaun Tougher

Download or read book The Roman Castrati written by Shaun Tougher and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-05-19 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction: Eunichs in the Roman Empire -- Eunuchs of the Great Mother: The Galli in Rome -- Greeks Bearing Gifts: Terence's The Eunuch -- Of Seed and Spring: Eunuch Slaves of Imperial Rome -- Born Eunuchs: The Case of Favorinus of Arles -- Eusebius and His Kind: Court Eunuchs of the Later Roman Empire -- 'Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven': Self-Castration and Eunuchs in Early Christianity -- Military Eunuchs: The Case of Narses.

Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society

Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society

Author: Shaun Elizabeth Marmon

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 0195071018

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Making use of techniques from literary analysis, social history and anthropology, she brings together a wide array of sources ranging from literary works, historical chronicles, biographies, pilgrimage diaries, travelers' accounts, and previously unexamined archival material.


Book Synopsis Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society by : Shaun Elizabeth Marmon

Download or read book Eunuchs and Sacred Boundaries in Islamic Society written by Shaun Elizabeth Marmon and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1995 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Making use of techniques from literary analysis, social history and anthropology, she brings together a wide array of sources ranging from literary works, historical chronicles, biographies, pilgrimage diaries, travelers' accounts, and previously unexamined archival material.