The Bangladesh government officially recognised hijras as members of a distinct gender category in 2013. Historically, hijras have been stigmatised and socially marginalised, while male same-sex sexual practice remains criminalised under enduring British colonial law (penal code, section 377). Employing a constructivist methodology, this study uses qualitative research methods including in-depth interviews and focus groups to explore the impacts and effects of the state’s recognition in the daily lives of hijras in the peripheral city of Rajshahi. In addition to local hijra participants, the research includes stakeholders from government and non-government sectors and civil society as key informants. Drawing on the work of Nancy Fraser and Alex Honneth on recognition and recognition infrastructure, as well as postcolonial critiques of NGO-ization and Western discourses on human rights and identity, the project presents a critical account of the impact and limits of state recognition processes. These data demonstrate that hijra continue to experience misrecognition and mistreatment despite their legal status. Hijra participants described traditional forms of kinship and livelihood connected to hijra community and identity as incompatible with ‘new’ forms of subjectivity fostered by political recognition. Newly formed Community-based Organizations align their activities with the agendas of external actors, such as NGOs and the state. These actors deploy neoliberal political ideologies to frame independence and self-sufficiency as essential to dignity and self- esteem. Hijras unable to embody these new social values described ongoing intersectional experiences of stigma and discrimination, and increased market vulnerability due to the unsustainability of traditional hijragiri practices and forms of kinship. ‘New’ forms of hijra identity connected to education and employment opportunities involved moderation of hijra identity filtered through Western discourses on transgender diversity and rights. Despite formal legal status, assumptions about biological difference operate to deny greater autonomy and security for many hijras, while simultaneously stabilising conventional heteronormative religious and cultural values. The illusive and paradoxical nature of recognition exacerbates systemic inequalities and injustice experienced by hijras whose lives continue to be characterised by stigma and economic precarity. This thesis illustrates the complex and contradictory effects of political recognition processes for traditional gender minority subjects in Global South contexts.