“Am I human enough in your eyes?” The Struggle of Waria to Integrate into The Traditional Javanese-Islamic Neighbourhood in Yogyakarta

This paper wishes to understand how and why Pondok Pesantren Khusus Waria Al-Fatah (Islamic Boarding School only for Transvestite Al-Fatah, shortly ponpes), is able to operate in Kotagede, a neighbourhood marked by traditional Javanese and conservative Islamic values. Given the fact that the waria community which consists of gender non-conforming individuals have been stigmatised, displaced, and dehumanised in the broader society, Kotagede seems to accept the existence of ponpes and allows it to actively function in the neighbourhood. I explore the interactions between waria and neighbours, as well as the features of Kotagede, the waria identity, and how these relationships intersect. It is central to this paper to understand how waria challenge and negotiate the normative Islamic system in Kotagede, as well as how they mitigate the dehumanisation of the community in ponpes to occur in the neighbourhood.