Understanding Movement and Meaning in Janana Communities

Abstract

Janana is a word used to describe male presenting individuals who desire or have sex with men but who may also hold a heteronormatively masculine position within their communities. This article presents an interdisciplinary look at the janana body and explores movement as a way jananas form meaning alongside linguistic markers within their communities. I show that the rewards and risks associated with movement in the janana community indicate a relationship between movement and language in the social lives of jananas, which is tied to the politics of their presence in the communities they inhabit. While scholars have studied aspects of movement within various communities, work on the simultaneous rewards and risks associated with movement within communities like that of jananas is underrepresented. This article shows that jananas use gestures and body movement to carry meanings that challenge restrictions imposed on their bodies by culture while also surviving and living under such restrictions.