Ayaz Qureshi

Issues related to gender and sexual minorities have been historically seen in human rights frameworks instead of international development. Although attitudes towards these minorities have become more accepting in recent times across different cultures (we should remember that many societies tried to cure non-confirming sexual and gender behaviours through the use of medical, behavioural, legal and religious interventions), data on their numbers and other demographic characteristics remains largely absent. Empirical evidence in the form of small scale studies points to the fact that sexual and gender minorities face disparities in many dimensions of development which are the current focus of global development policy and interventions, such as mental health, food security, violence, civic participation. If global development programmes are to be effective they must address these disparities, in addition to meeting development targets for gender and sexual majorities. But how do we do...

T he metaphor of threshold is central to understanding life-course changes in anthropology. Scholars such as Van Gennep (2011) and Victor Turner (1967) popularised the idea of rites de passage to account for cross-cultural practices of performing certain rituals to mark one’s transition from on stage in life to the next. A good example of such rites would be the initiation rituals which are usually performed around the time of puberty to mark the transition of an individual into adulthood i.e. the status of a full member of the society. Rituals associated with birth, marriage, death or even graduation are some other examples. Anthropologists have likened life-course to a series of rooms which are connected to each other through doors or portals between them. One enters the next room by leaving the previous room behind. Importantly, crossing the threshold is a moment of great uncertainty because it is at this precise moment that one is neither here, nor there . According to anthr...