COSMOPOLITANISM AND TRANSGENDER RESISTANCE TO GENDER STEREOTYPES IN ASKARI’S QUEEN ZARQA

Abstract

This thesis examines the portrayal of transgender survival in Shama Askari’s Queen Zarqa, focusing on themes of vulnerability and resistance of transgender individuals in Pakistan, especially in Pukhtoon society and Karachi. The study explores through Catherine Belsey’s textual analysis that transgender characters such as Queen Zarqa, Madhubala, Guru, Rani, and Samita in the text reveals how they resist the stereotypical concepts regarding them and portrays the reality of cisgenders of Karachi and Pukhtoon society in Pakistan. By applying cosmopolitanism of Appiah asserts the acts of defense of transgender people from the victimization by family (Mohabatai, Mirgati, other village boys in Pukhtoon society) and by Saith Pasjeer Shah and others in Karachi and securing Queen Zarqa and other transgender people from the predation of cisgender people. By bringing attention to resistance, the text offers a powerful reflection on identity, difference, and the human desire to live with dignity.