Benjamin Hegarty

AWARDS AND PRIZES

• 2023 Anne Bolin & Gil Herdt Book Prize in Human Sexuality (American Anthropological Association)

Praise for the made-Up State

“The Made-Up State is a breakthrough. Hegarty's detailed historical and ethnographic analysis links trans femininity in Indonesia to the interplay of urban governance and emerging technologies of gender. This book will be invaluable to queer studies, Southeast Asian studies, Science and Technology Studies, and beyond.”

Tom Boellstorff, University of California, Irvine, author of The Gay Archipelago

“Conceptually rigorous and built upon a stunning historical examination, this book is a much-needed and timely contribution to queer and trans studies in Indonesia. Hegarty connects the politics of 'being seen' and 'acceptance' of Indonesian trans women with the broader idea of a nation's progress, spatial governance, and citizenship. His trenchant analysis highlights various creative agencies of trans women in navigating the state's regime throughout history.”

Hendri Yulius Wijaya, author of Intimate Assemblages

Reviews of The Made-Up State

“Benjamin Hegarty’s The Made-Up State is a sharp intervention into the ‘global’ and ‘local’ dimensions of what has become a near-universal concern with the politics of gender identification and recognition – many countries now grapple with the demands of legal change… The very mapping of gender as an effect of technology is itself remarkable, as is the articulation of the failures of a state to sanction cisgender normativity as the condition for full belonging.

Brian Curtin, Southeast Asia Research

Media and Presentations

I have introduced some of the material that I expand at length in the book in my other writing in addition to the following seminars:

• I discussed my book on the Cornell University Press 1869 Podcast (November 2023).

• I held a book discussion and readings of The Made-Up State with commentary from Dr Chris Hanssmann, Professor Carla Jones, and Dr Alegra Wolter at Deakin University in Melbourne (September 2023).

• I held a book discussion to launch The Made-Up State with Professor Dennis Altman and Dr Annisa R. Beta at Carlton Readings (April 2023).

• I spoke with Professor Michele Ford on the New Books in Southeast Asian Studies podcast (January 2023).

• I spoke to the BBC World Service on their Weekend Program about the history of waria and its ongoing relevance to understanding limits on trans and queer peoples’ public participation (December 2022).

• I was quoted in a Guardian UK article about the impact of Indonesia’s revised criminal code passed in December 2022 on gender and sexual minorities (December 2022).

• I presented new work emerging from the book about warias’ use of identity cards at the University of Cambridge Center of South Asian Studies (October 2022). (recording available)

• I presented on the implications of trans recognition via the category waria during the New Order for reformasi-era politics of decentralisation at the ANU Indonesia Update (September 2022). (video available)

• I presented on the relationship between colonial histories of race and gender in the Dutch East Indies at the TransASIA STS group (January 2022). (video available)

• I presented on the book manuscript at the Cambridge University Social Anthropology Society (February 2022).

• I spoke with Annisa Beta (The University of Melbourne) about the book on the Talking Indonesia podcast (April 2021). (recording available)

• I presented on the book manuscript at KITLV/Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (September 2019).

• I presented on histories of queer visibility in Indonesian politics at the Deakin University Gender and Sexuality Studies Seminar Series (August 2018). (recording available)

• I published an essay about the medicalisation of transgender bodies during the New Order for Remotivi in Bahasa Indonesia (August 2017).