HDR workshop - Researching gender and sexuality in Asia: theory, method, and practice

Gender and sexuality studies is often criticized as a "Western" import and thus alienated from "Asian" perspectives and inapplicable to "Asian culture." But what does this mean for Asia-based scholars whose lived realities and research interests are embedded in issues of gender and sexuality? How might they do research on gender and sexuality in Asian contexts? What methodologies do they draw on and does it matter which approaches they use?

At the same time, these scholars also grapple with the EuroAmerican-centrism of queer and feminist knowledge production, in which theories are produced from the West but not from Asia whereas the experiences of people in Asia are either largely absent or treated as "objects" of study. What can we as scholars researching gender and sexuality in Asian contexts do to challenge this unequal production of knowledges? How can Asia-based scholars do the work of theorizing gender and sexuality?

Finally, in what ways do we merge our scholarly practices with pedagogy and positionality? Practicing gender and sexuality studies in Asia means being invested in how diverse ways of knowing and doing empower us to make sense of our personal experiences. As instructors, we also reflect on our teaching of queer and feminist theories and methods, which our students might apply to their everyday lives and yet also develop their own understandings. These are some of the complex issues and questions we will attempt to tackle in this session.

You are strongly encouraged to do the following background readings before you come to the session:

Roces, Mina. 2010. "Asian Feminisms: Women's Movements from the Asian Perspective." In Women's Movements in Asia: Feminisms and Transnational Activism, edited by Mina Roces and Louise Edwards, 1-20. New York, NY: Routledge.

Chiang, Howard, and Alvin K. Wong. 2017. "Asia is burning: Queer Asia as critique." Culture, Theory and Critique 58 (2):121-126.

This workshop is generously funded by the Research School of Humanities & the Arts (RSHA).

Michelle H. S. Ho (she, her) is an Assistant Professor of Feminist and Queer Cultural Studies in the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore (NUS). She has held visiting positions at NUS, MIT, and the University of Tokyo and holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies and Advanced Graduate Certificate in Women's and Gender Studies from Stony Brook University (SUNY). At NUS, she is on the steering committee of the Gender and Sexuality Research Cluster (GSRC), an initiative supported by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) Research Division that critically engages with the complexities of gender/sexuality in Asia. Her research and pedagogical interests lie at the intersections of gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity, affect and emotion, and media and popular cultures in contemporary (East) Asia. She has published and taught broadly across these issues. More information can be found at: michellehsho.com.
 

In July-August 2023, she will be an External Visitor at the Research School of Humanities & the Arts (RSHA), Australian National University. She will work with Dr. Wesley Lim (Lecturer at SLLL) on "Asian Masculinities in Figure Skating," a collaborative project exploring the cultures, politics, and aesthetics of elite male Asian figure skaters, such as Nathan Chen and Yuzuru Hanyu.

"Lunch will be available at the event"