Overview
- Authors:
- Kaushalya Ariyarathne
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Search author on:PubMed Google Scholar
- Offers original insights from a primary data set
- Builds on the growing need for research exploring sex work in the global South
- Contributes to gender and sexuality studies, post-colonial and subaltern studies, feminist theory, transgender studies
Part of the book series:Palgrave Advances in Sex Work Studies (PASWS)
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About this book
"Transgender sex workers” is a scarcely explored area in academic discourses, garnering widespread interest amongst gender and sexuality scholars around the world. This book explores the narratives and experiences ofNachchisex workers in contemporary Sri Lanka; a local term for a community assigned male at birth but who choose to live as women with a preference for male partners. It explores their lived experiences and stories through unique interviews, critically examining the historical and post-colonial (and post-war) discourses originating from the Sri Lankan state and civil society. It challenges the hegemonic, neo-liberal narratives that tend to homogenise and simplify their subjectivities. It also dissects the realm of ‘politics,’ particularly subaltern politics and how this colonial population is excluded from the hierarchy of power. This book takes a decolonial approach to the historical knowledge production onNachchi sex worker subjectivities by unearthing important, yet suppressed verbal histories and narrations of living community members. The author also reflects on her journey, transitioning from a researcher and academic to a full-time politician, a transformation that shapes her evolving perspectives on politics throughout the writing of the book.
Keywords
Table of contents (7 chapters)
Front Matter
Pages i-xiiiSex Work and the Politics of Agency: Navigating Exploitation, Choice, and Resistance
- Kaushalya Ariyarathne
Pages 25-46Language as a Tool for Identity: Negotiation, Protection, and Resistance
- Kaushalya Ariyarathne
Pages 47-62“The Horse Is Heavy, But My Heart Is Not”: Dancing, Identity, and Politics
- Kaushalya Ariyarathne
Pages 63-89
Authors and Affiliations
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Kaushalya Ariyarathne
About the author
Kaushalya Ariyarathnecompleted her LL.B at the University of Colombo and her Master's in Human Rights and Justice at Keele University, UK. She obtained her PhD from the Faculty of Graduate Studies at the University of Colombo. Kaushalya is an academic and researcher who was elected as a political representative in 2024. She is currently serving as a Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka.
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Bibliographic Information
Book Title:Transgender Sex Work in Sri Lanka
Book Subtitle:The Politics of Nachchi Sex Workers
Authors:Kaushalya Ariyarathne
Series Title:Palgrave Advances in Sex Work Studies
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-91540-6
Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages:Law and Criminology,Law and Criminology (R0)
Copyright Information:The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2025
Hardcover ISBN:978-3-031-91539-0Published: 03 July 2025
Softcover ISBN:978-3-031-91542-0Due: 17 July 2026
eBook ISBN:978-3-031-91540-6Published: 02 July 2025
Series ISSN: 2731-376X
Series E-ISSN: 2731-3778
Edition Number:1
Number of Pages:XIII, 143
Number of Illustrations:1 b/w illustrations, 4 illustrations in colour
Topics:Critical Criminology,Gender Studies,Crime and Society,Political Science,Asian Criminology,Human Rights