ABSTRACT
This chapter sketches out the historical and contemporary contexts within which the discourse of queer sexuality in India is based. It provides an overview of the colonial and postcolonial reaction to queerness in India. In colonial India, the marginalisation of queer sexualities was a political agenda, which sought to position queer sexuality as a 'special oriental vice' Thomas Babington Macaulay, who designed the colonial education system that would teach South Asians 'civilisation' on British Victorian models, also helped frame the legislation that labelled sodomy and other acts of love between men 'unnatural' and made them criminal offences. Earlier forms of sexuality and identities were reconstituted to fit the new norms of the colonial establishment, and this in turn became a part of the modernising nationalist rhetoric. The contemporary moment has seen the emergence of a more public queer articulation and consciousness in India. Another way to track the emergence of queer consciousness is also through queer cultural productions in India.
