Research Spotlight: Queer Asia
My work on Queer Asia has always been collaborative. It started in 2004 when I attended the “Queer Matters” conference in London and encountered a vibrant group of scholars from Asia, Australia, and Europe whose research on queer and transgender issues in Asia was most inspiring. Our collective dissatisfaction with the conference’s Anglocentric approach to studying gender and sexual minorities led to a series of reflections published in the journal Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. In retrospect, the piece serves as a cogent documentation of the collaborative efforts that later flourished into a dynamic and productive field of study:
Re-placing Queer Studies: Reflections on the Queer Matters Conference (King’s College, London, May 2004)
Critiques are most worthwhile when they lead to efforts to create alternatives. Inspired by the earlier work of the Australia-based group AsiaPaciQueer whose 2010 anthology was one of the first volumes to feature research on how local sexual cultures in the Asian Pacific region interact with colonial histories and processes of globalization, and supported by a growing network of queer studies scholars working on and in different parts of Asia, a group of us co-founded the Queer Asia Book Series published by Hong Kong University Press. Our considered choice to publish the series with a university press based in Asia was grounded in our ethos that queer scholars working in Asia are in as much need of support as research on Asia. Our series has to date published over 20 monographs that showcase a diverse range of interdisciplinary research on gender and sexual phenomena in Asia.
QUEER ASIA Book Series
Editorial Collective: Chris Berry, John Nguyet Erni, Peter Jackson, Helen Hok-Sze Leung, Shawna Tang
Re-placing Queer Studies: Reflections on the Queer Matters Conference (King’s College, London, May 2004)
Critiques are most worthwhile when they lead to efforts to create alternatives. Inspired by the earlier work of the Australia-based group AsiaPaciQueer whose 2010 anthology was one of the first volumes to feature research on how local sexual cultures in the Asian Pacific region interact with colonial histories and processes of globalization, and supported by a growing network of queer studies scholars working on and in different parts of Asia, a group of us co-founded the Queer Asia Book Series published by Hong Kong University Press. Our considered choice to publish the series with a university press based in Asia was grounded in our ethos that queer scholars working in Asia are in as much need of support as research on Asia. Our series has to date published over 20 monographs that showcase a diverse range of interdisciplinary research on gender and sexual phenomena in Asia.
QUEER ASIA Book Series
Editorial Collective: Chris Berry, John Nguyet Erni, Peter Jackson, Helen Hok-Sze Leung, Shawna Tang
Click on the above book covers to find out more about each selected title. Browse other titles in the full series here.
In my more recent work, I have approached Queer Asia in collaborative translocal research and theorized “inter-Asia beyond Asia” while also applying these insights into understanding queer Asian dynamics in a city like Vancouver.
In my more recent work, I have approached Queer Asia in collaborative translocal research and theorized “inter-Asia beyond Asia” while also applying these insights into understanding queer Asian dynamics in a city like Vancouver.
Featured Article
Our City of Colours:
Queer/Asian Publics in Transpacific VancouverIn this article, I examine the contested relation between discourses of, respectviely, ethnic subjectivity and queer critique of homophobia and transphobia in Vancouver. My case study examines the Vancouver School Board’s 2016 community consultation over a policy that was the precursor to SOGI. I analyze the perceived association of migrant Chinese communities with moral conservatism and the concomitant existence of a vibrant queer Asian cultural scene in the city. Framing this tense exchange as a discursive clash between two cultural publics, I examine the underlying dynamics of their antagonism as well as their potential for mutual engagement.
Queer/Asian Publics in Transpacific VancouverIn this article, I examine the contested relation between discourses of, respectviely, ethnic subjectivity and queer critique of homophobia and transphobia in Vancouver. My case study examines the Vancouver School Board’s 2016 community consultation over a policy that was the precursor to SOGI. I analyze the perceived association of migrant Chinese communities with moral conservatism and the concomitant existence of a vibrant queer Asian cultural scene in the city. Framing this tense exchange as a discursive clash between two cultural publics, I examine the underlying dynamics of their antagonism as well as their potential for mutual engagement.
