Queer Asia: Decolonising and Reimagining Sexuality and Gender

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Description

Queer studies is now a rapidly expanding field, as scholars from a variety of disciplines seek to address the long-running marginalisation of queer perspectives and experiences. But there has so far been little effort to unify the study of queer communities outside the West, and much of the current writing views these communities through a narrowly Western lens. Building on the work of the annual Queer Asia conference, which the editors helped to establish, this collection represents the most comprehensive work to date on queer studies in an Asian context. Featuring case studies and original research from across the continent, covering the Middle East, South and East Asia, and Asian diasporas, the collection offers a genuinely pan-Asian perspective which places queer Asian identities and movements in dialogue with each other, rather than within a Western framework. By considering how queerness is imagined within plural Asian experiences and contexts, the contributors show a that re-envisioning of queer through Asian perspectives has the potential to challenge existing discourses and debates in the wider field of contemporary gender, sexuality, and queer studies.

Reviews

Both being queer and being Asian remain alienating experiences today. This sophisticated volume examines their negotiated syncopation in diverse ordinary contexts. The chapters build a timely solidarity across disciplinary, professional, identitarian, and geopolitical lines to de-universalize Western privilege and unleash the power of liminal synergies * Howard H. Chiang, University of California, Davis *
Bursting forth online and in various spaces, Queer Asia is certainly one of the most energetic and exciting phenomena to emerge in gender and sexuality studies, and queer politics, over recent years. Blending academic research and critical theory with the cultural and the political the Queer Asia network has successfully contributed to redefining the landscape and geopolitics of global queer studies * Matthew Waites, University of Glasgow *

Author Bio

J. Daniel Luther is a doctoral researcher at SOAS, University of London, UK and is beginning a Visiting Research Fellowship at Kings College London. Luther is also co-founder of the annual Queer Asia international conference and film festival. Jennifer Ung Loh is a research associate with the South Asia Institute at SOAS, University of London, UK and previously lectured at De Montfort University, UK. She is also a committee member and conference organiser for the Queer Asia conference.