Challenging Gender Norms—Five Genders Among Bugis in Indonesia

As part of the Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology series, edited by George Spindler and Janice Stockard, Sharyn Graham brings us CHALLENGING GENDER NORMS: THE FIVE GENDERS OF INDONESIA. This case study explores the Bugis ethnic group, native to the Indonisian island of Sulawesi, that recognizes five gender categories rather than the two acknowledged in most societies. The Bugis acknowledge three sexes (female, male, hermaphrodite), four genders (women, men, calabai, and calalai), and a fifth meta-gender group, the bissu." This ethnography presents individuals' stories, opinions and deliberations, grounding discussions of how gendered identities are constructed in a rapidly changing cultural milieu. The rich ethnographic material contained in this book challenges two types of Western theory ? queer theory, which tends to focus on sexuality, and feminist theory, which tends to focus on social gender enactment. Neither theory is well-equipped for articulating the complexities of multiple gender identities and a multifarious gender system. By unraveling social negotiations and examining both individual embodiment and the impact of global forces on localized identities, the book proposes a new theory of gender which incorporates appreciation of variously gendered subjectivities.