Understanding Re-partnership in Non-normative Conjugality: Narratives of Gay Men in Odisha, India

Mishra, Jayaprakash (2020) Understanding Re-partnership in Non-normative Conjugality: Narratives of Gay Men in Odisha, India. Journal of Family Issues, 41 (7). pp. 957-977. ISSN 0192-513X

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Abstract

Drawing on biographical narratives of two gay men in mixed-orientation marriage who have later gone on to establish re-partnership with another gay man, this paper seeks to critique the inherent heteronormativity in the discussion around re-partnership. It examines the consequential kinship dynamics among concerned social actors such as gay men, straight women, and their biological children, and their ongoing negotiations with the social institutions of marriage and family. Further, the discussion around re-partnership between two gay men in a Western context does not necessarily consider the alternative negotiations that characterize South Asian queer experiences. Borrowing from De Villiers’ concept of queer opacity (2012) and Jingshu Zhu’s (2017) ambivalence, the paper demonstrates that the kinning process of gay men in mixed-orientation marriage forging partnership with other gay men exists in a continuum. The boundary between what needs to be undone and what needs to be redone is porous, ambiguous, and interpenetrative. In that case, this paper suggests a non-Western framework to understand re-partnership in non-normative conjugality. © The Author(s) 2020.

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IITH Creators:

IITH Creators	ORCiD

Item Type:

Article

Additional Information:

I gratefully acknowledge the research grant for field study by Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. I would like to thank my PhD supervisor Dr Indira Jalli at Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, for the many discussions before and along the process of writing and Dr Dilip Naik, English and Foreign Language University, for prompting countless thoughts related to queer kinship during our multiple discussions that have enriched this paper. I also thank Dr Anindita Majumdar, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, for patiently listening to my innumerable questions and responding to each of them with equal patience, some of which have been incorporated in this paper.

Uncontrolled Keywords:

gay men; non-normative conjugality; queer kinship; re-partnership; South Asia

Subjects:

Arts > Liberal arts

Divisions:

Department of Liberal Arts

Depositing User:

. LibTrainee 2021

Date Deposited:

24 Nov 2022 10:40

Last Modified:

24 Nov 2022 10:40