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Queer Asia 2016: Diversity, Contestations and Developments

Key information

Date
to
Time
9:00 am to 7:30 pm

About this event


The first ever 'Queer' Asia Conference is being held at SOAS on 10-11 June, 2016 and supported by 14 Societies, Departments and Institutes at SOAS including Centre for Gender Studies, Film Studies, South Asia Institute and Department of Film Studies, Development Studies and South East Asian Studies.

This is the first of its kind Conference focussed on LGBT and queer issues in Asia and will have LGBT leaders, film-makers and academics from across the Asian continent . All the details about the conference are available on our website .

The first day(10 June 2016) is focussed on academic panels from scholars across Asia and working on various aspects concerning queer and LGBT issues in Asia. The second day(11 June 2016) will have film screenings and a panel discussion on activism in Asia. The complete schedule of events for the conference is available here . Some of the well-known names presenting and performing at 'Queer' Asia are Asifa Lahore , UK's first Asian Muslim drag queen; Victoria Hsu , CEO of Taiwan Alliance to promote Civil Partnership Rights (TACPR); Amir Ashour , founder of IraQueer , Iraq's first and only LGBTQ+ Organisation; Arvind Narrain , Geneva Director, ARC International; Bryan Choong Oogachaga , Consultant and Former Executive Director, Oogachaga Counselling and Support (Singapore’s largest Support Organization for LGBTQ People) ; Ghiwa Sayegh , Lebanese Feminist, Activist & Researcher and Dr. He Xiaopei , Executive Director, Pinkspace, A Sexuality Resource Center based in Beijing. You can click on their names and to know more about them and find their pictures and details here . I have also attached the press release and conference schedule for your perusal.

Several academics from SOAS including Prof. Rachel Dwyer are also speaking at the event and several prominent academics  from different institutions including Dr. Howard Chiang and Prof. Shivaji Panikkar will be presenting at the conference on the 10th of June. We will be joined by a wide range of researchers from various institutions, specially from Asia, to facilitate an inter-regional dialogue on queer and LGBT issues in Asia at the two day event.

Please join us on 10th and 11th June at SOAS for the first ever 'Queer' Asia conference.

Programme

Friday 10 June 2016

08:30-09:00  Registration (KLT Foyer)

09:00-09:50  Key note: "A queer utopia: Love, dissent and empathy in contemporary times" by Arvind Narrain, Geneva Director, ARC International

1000 – 1130 In Pursuit of Celluloid Happiness (Film Studies)

Venue: KLT (Main Building)

Chair: Abhishek Saraf (NTU, Singapore)

1000 – 1130 Transing in Asia (Transgender/ Hijra/ Kothi/ Law)

Venue: B102 (Brunei Gallery)

Chair: Imrane Lawrence (SOAS, University of London)

10:00 - 10:15 "Queer Film Project of KimJo-KwangSoo, To Pursue Happiness towards Queer" JaeWook Ryu (Lancaster University) 10:00 - 10:15

"'I am not queer': representing the 'queer' subject in contemporary India" Jennifer Ung Loh (SOAS, University of London)

10:15 - 10:30 "Impossible Allies: Representation of Sexuality and Caste in Papilio Buddha " Lars Olav Aaberg (University of Oslo) 10:15 - 10:30

"Changing the Traditional Body: Queering the Nupo Sabis of Shumang Leela in Meitei Society Sunny Gurumayam (Ambedkar University Delhi)

10:30 - 10:45 "'From Fire to Queen : Anti-normative voices of women and the hegemony of signs" J. Daniel Luther (SOAS, University of London) 10:30 - 10:45

"The Forced Sterilization of Transgender and Gender Non-conforming People in Singapore” Darius Zheng (Project X, Singapore)

10:45 - 11:00 "Towards a 'Negative aesthetic': Bombay Talkies and Queer Futures of popular cinema in India" Sameer Chopra (University of Delhi) (Virtual presentation) 10:45 - 11:00 "Are Hijras Queer?" Ina Goel (University College London)
11:00 - 11:30 Questions and Discussion 11:00 - 11:30 Questions and Discussion

1145 – 1315 Trash: From the Margins to the Canvas (Literature/ Art)

Venue: KLT (Main Building)

Chair: Golchehr Hamidi-Manesh(SOAS, University of London)

1145 – 1315 Fucking , Buying, Shopping: Moving Markets (Economics/ Governance/ Markets)

Venue: B102 (Brunei Gallery)

Chair: Shantanu Singh (London School of Economics and Political Science)

11:45 - 12:00 "The 'Queer Unwanted' and 'Junkification' in Kim Hyena's 2012 Novel <정크> (" Junk ")" Allan C. Simpson (SOAS, University of London) 11:45 - 12:00

"Degrowth: An attempt at decolonising and queering it" Riya Raphael (Lund University)

12:00 - 12:15 "From Closet to Pride: A 20 Year History of  Queer Art in Vietnam" Cristina Nualart (Universidad Complutense Madrid) 12:00 - 12:15

"Bold is Beautiful: Smart economics and homonormativity in India" Amar Nijhawan (London School of Economics and Political Science)

12:15 - 12:30 "Art of Failure: the crisis in the expressive practice of a gay painter; Bhupen Khakar Among Friends and within the Elitist Art World" Shivaji Panikkar (Ambedkar University Delhi) 12:15 - 12:30

"Performance Spectacle and the Commodification of Queer Bodies; Live Show on Chinese Gay Social Apps" Wang Shuaishuai (University of Amsterdam)

12:30 - 12:45 "Queering Art Criticism in the Worldly Kingdom” Brian Curtin (Bangkok University) 12:30 - 12:45

"Camouflage of Cosmopolitanism: Questing Queer Transnationality in Neo-Liberal China" Ben Lu (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

12:45 - 13:15 Questions and Discussion 12:45 - 13:15 Questions and Discussion

13:15/13:30 – 14:15  Lunch break/ Paper presenters (B111 for Lunch)

1415 – 1545  Coming Undone! (Law)

Venue: KLT (Main Building)

Chair: Tachfine Baida (SOAS, University of London)

1415 – 1545 Vanity Fair: Werk , Twerk and Flaunt it! (New Media/ Social Media)

Venue: B102 (Brunei Gallery)

Chair: Tessa Qiu (SOAS, University of London)

14:15 - 14:30

"Critical Role of the Working Group to Amend the Criminal Code of Mongolia in Prohibiting Discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity" Otgonbaatar Tsedendemberel (Mahidol University)

14:15 - 14:30

"Queer thinking’ in the early twentieth century China” Miha Fugina (London School of Economics and Political Science)

14:30 - 14:45

"Heteronormativity and Family: the Move from Status to Contract in Matrimonial Laws in India" Kavana Ramaswamy (O. P. Jindal Global University)

14:30 - 14:45

"The Politics of "Powerlessness and Otherness in East Asia: From Queer Assemblage to Rainbow Coalition" Po-Han Lee (University of Sussex)

14:45 - 15:00

"The Production of Queer Spaces in India" Karan Katoch (University of Oxford)

14:45 - 15:00

"Fieldwork, gender, sexuality and the dilemmas of ‘fitting in’in the rural Indian context" Regina Hansda (University of Cambridge)

15:00 - 15:15

"Sexual Diversity and the Legal Frame in Iraq and Kurdistan Region" Amir Ashour (IraQueer)

15:00 - 15:15

"Performing Sexuality on Cyberspace: Understanding Viral Politics of Pink Chaddi Campaign (2009) and Gay for a Day (2013)" Priyam Ghosh (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

15:15 - 15:45

Questions and Discussion

15:15 - 15:45

Questions and Discussion

1600 – 1745 Queerglossia I (Religion/ Linguistics)

Venue: KLT (Main Building)

Chair: Fabian Hartwell (SOAS)

1600 – 1745 Queerglossia II (Theatre/ Caste)

Venue: B102 (Brunei Gallery)

Chair: How Wee Ng (SOAS, University of London)

16:00 - 16:15

"Queer Indonesian Muslims: Progressive Islam and the Negotiation of LGBT and Muslim Identities" Diego García Rodríquez (Lund University)

16:00 - 16:15 "Queering Gender: The Zhongxing (Neutral Gender/ Sex) Phenomenon in Hong Kong and Urban China" Eva Cheuk-Yin Li (King's College London)
16:15 - 16:30

"A Queer Postcolonial Critique of LGBT-Inclusive Churches in Taiwan" Wei-Jen Chen (Chicago Theological Seminary)

16:15 - 16:30 "Performing the closet: gay anti-identities in Singaporean a capella choirs" Shzr Ee Tan (Royal Holloway, University of London)
16:30 - 16:45

"Sinoglossia Incarnate: The Entanglements of Castration across the Pacific" Howard Chiang (University of Warwick)

16:30 - 16:45 " Ghar wapsi and the politics of caste and queer at Bombay Pride" Jacquelyn Strey (SOAS, University of London)
16:45 - 17:00

"(No longer) His Master's Voice" Sachin Jain (Gaylaxy Magazine, India)

16:45 - 17:00

"Queering and camping up politics in Singapore community theatre: News Busters , the commedia dell’arte of Drama Box" How Wee Ng (SOAS, University of London)

17:00 - 17:30

Questions and Discussions

17:00 - 17:30 Questions and Discussion

1730 – 1900  Poetry over wine: I want to 377 you so bad – Poetry readings by Akhil Katyal

Venue: DLT (Main building)

Saturday 11 June 2016
Time Event Venue
10:30 - 12:00

Ebang Bewarish ( … And the Unclaimed) (Film Screening)

Directed by Debalina

Post-screening talk on LGBT representations in Bollywood and contemporary Indian cinema

Chair: Prof. Rachel Dwyer (SOAS, University of London) and Daniel Luther (SOAS, University of London)

DLT (Kamran Djam Lecture Theatre)

13:15 - 14:45

‘How Gay is Pakistan’ (Film Screening)

Directed by Masood Khan

Post-screening dialogue with Masood Khan, Mawaan Rizwan and Asifa Lahore

Chair: Fabian Hartwell

DLT (Kamran Djam Lecture Theatre)

15:15 - 17:00

International Premiere of China LGBT documentary, Papa Rainbow

Directed by Fan Popo

Post-screening dialogue/Q&A with director

Chair: Dr Luke Robinson (University of Sussex)

DLT (Kamran Djam Lecture Theatre)

17:00 - 19:00

Out and Coming in 'Queer' Asia: Identity, Developments and Challenges (Panel Discussion)

Chair: Aapurv Jain (SOAS, University of London)

Panelists:

  1. Amir Ashour , Founder, IraQueer (Iraq’s first and only LGBTQ+ Organization)
  2. Bryan Choong , Consultant and Former Executive Director, Oogachaga Counselling and Support (Singapore’s largest Support Organization for LGBTQ People)
  3. Dr. He Xiaopei , Executive Director, Pink Space, Sexuality Research Centre, Beijing, China
  4. Ghiwa Sayegh , Lebanese Feminist Activist and Researcher, Founder and Editor in Chief of Kohl: A Journal for Body and Gender Research at the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality
  5. Victoria Hsu , Co-founder and CEO of Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR)
KLT
19:00

Live Performance by Asifa Lahore, UK’s first Muslim Drag Queen

JCR (Student Common Room, Main Building)

Getting to the Venues

Click for travel Advice

The main SOAS campus at Russell Square is placed centrally in the Bloomsbury area of London, close to Russell Square, the British Museum, Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road.

Venues:

  • DLT (Kamran Djam Lecture Theatre) – Ground floor.  One of the original lecture theatres, recently refurbished, DLT is perfectly located off the main SOAS reception.
  • JCR (Marked as Student Common Room) – Ground floor
  • KLT (Khalili Lecture Theatre) – Lower ground floor.  The Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT), named after Nasser David Khalili, Alumnus, Scholar, Collector and Benefactor.
  • Brunei Gallery (B111, B102)- please refer to the SOAS map for the Brunei Gallery.

Please refer to the SOAS map for the Brunei Gallery.