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SOCIETY / SEXUALITY
First international conference of Asian 'queer' studies comes to Bangkok
ALONGKORN PARIVUDHIPHONGS (Bangkok Post 2005/06/30)
Next week Bangkok will play host to one of the world's largest gatherings of scholars, human rights activists, artists and film-makers involved in researching and documenting Asian lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, transsexual, bisexual and queer (LGBTQ) cultures.
The 1st International Conference of Asian Queer Studies will be held at the Ambassador Hotel from July 7 to 9.
Jointly organised by the Australian-based AsiaPacifiQueer Network and Mahidol University Office of Human Rights Studies and Social Development, the conference aims to develop links between research about Asian LGBTQ cultures and communities, to promote recognition and respect for sexual and gender diversity in the region and to build links between the Asian academic community and gay and lesbian NGO rights organisations in the region.
"We need accurate information on the real situations of Asia's queer communities in order to provide the best help and assistance to all the lesbian, gay and transgendered communities in Asia," says the Australian conference co-organiser, Associate Professor Peter Jackson of the Australian National University in Canberra.
The conference organisers use the word "queer" in both its current senses. "Queer" is both shorthand for the full diversity of homoerotic, transgendered and trans-sexual behaviours, identities and cultures as well as a term describing critical forms of theory that draw on post-structuralist and post-colonial analyses.
A parallel goal of the conference is to support and defend the academic legitimacy of research and teaching about LGBTQ peoples in Asia.
"Many Asian universities are extremely conservative institutions. While many younger scholars want to research this region's queer communities, they are often stymied by anti-gay professors who refuse to permit research into these topics," says the professor, noted among Asian scholars for his gay studies.
He notices that academics who study gay, lesbian and transgendered cultures often suffer the same sorts of homophobic discrimination as gays and lesbians themselves.
"In Western universities, students can study courses in gay and lesbian history. I am not aware of such courses in Asian universities. We want to show the extremely conservative academic communities of Asia that gay, lesbian and transgendered studies are an internationally important and significant field of research and inquiry," he says.
The three-day seminar is divided into three categories: rights, culture and health. Topics to be discussed include social persecution and legal discrimination against sexual minorities in Asia; gay, lesbian and transgendered citizenship and rights; homosexuals and transgendered people in Asian cinema and literature; the globalisation of homosexual cultures; Asian homosexual diasporas in the West; and the impact of HIV/Aids on Asian same-sex communities.
The legal recognition of sex-change will be discussed by speakers from across Asia, including Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and Iran.
Homosexual women's issues will also be highlighted, with representatives from lesbian organisations from Japan, China, the Philippines, India, Thailand and other countries presenting panels on the rights of women who love women.
Since its call for papers last October, the committee has received more than 220 applications from researchers and academicians from across the world. About 30 percent of presenters are from Western countries, mostly Australia and the US with some from England and France. The remaining 70 percent of papers are from Asia scholars, mostly younger postgraduate students.
"We were both stunned and overjoyed. The size of the conference is a clear indication of the rapid growth of Asian gay, lesbian and transgendered studies both in Asia and the West," Jackson said.
The status of LGBTQ Studies in Asia is changing, he added.
"In the past Asian scholars often relied on ideas and theories from American and European researchers. However, in the past few years I have detected a greater self confidence among Asian scholars to develop their own locally attuned analyses and interpretations of their own societies. I think in the years to come that research from Asia will have a growing impact in the West as well," he said.
The keynote speaker from Thailand will be Professor Vitit Muntabhorn of Chulalongkorn University, who will speak on the topic "Sexualities, Genders and Rights in International Law: Implications for the Asian Region".
Continues to http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/alfayoko2002/5994861.html
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