PERFORMING THE SELF: TRANSGENDER AESTHETICS IN VISUAL CULTURE AND PERFORMANCE IN THE MINISTRY OF UTMOST HAPPINESS

Abstract [English]

This paper studies that transgender identity is actively constructed through performance, specifically, through aesthetics, visual culture and practices as shown in The Ministry of Utmost Happiness. Moving beyond traditional frameworks, it demonstrates that gender is performed, represented and challenged within complex socio-cultural contexts. Arundhati Roy uses the character Aftab/Anjum to illustrate how transgender people challenge dominant ideas of gender, identity and belonging, making space for authentic self-expression. By applying theories of performativity and visual representation, this study shows how clothing, gestures, spatial occupation, and community rituals act as visible markers of transgender identity in the Hjira community. The analysis explains how these representations reflect tensions between lived transgender experience and larger institutional discourses, including religion and science, that attempt to define or constrain gender variance. This highlights the persistent gap between social institutions and actual lives.
The paper is organised in three parts: first, it analyses Roy’s storytelling and how the novel uses visual and performative elements to construct transgender identity. Second, it investigates religious interpretations of gender nonconformity. Third, it assesses evolving language around transgender identity in scientific and cultural contexts. The central claim is that Roy’s novel shows transgender identity not as fixed but as something enacted, restoring visibility, agency and alternative belonging in a frequently exclusionary society.