Queer Glocalisation and Intersectionality: In the Cases of Thailand and Japan

Abstract

As a result of globalisation, queer communities in Asian countries have been exposed to western queer political thinking and strategies, and their queer identities and political aims are often assumed to be shaped by these generalised western queer frameworks. Queer individuals in Asia are often assumed to share the same political struggles and goals as those in the West. From a critical postcolonial perspective, the global expansion of western ideas about queerness is understood as a form of western domination of minority sexuality and gender groups in Asia. This dissertation starts from the premise that this assumed homogenisation does not describe or account for the cultural particularity and experiences of queer people in Asian countries. I argue here that queer identities and politics in Asia are shaped by the complex relationship of foreign and domestic influences. I deploy a combination of three theoretical frameworks: queer theory, glocalisation and intersectionality to study queer identities and queer politics in Thailand and Japan chosen for their significant, long-standing and legal queer communities. Queer theory reveals the fluidity, complexity, contingency and diversity of queer identities in each case. Glocalisation allows me to analyse mutual and complex interactions between national and foreign influences. I examine the culturally distinctive aspects of Thai and Japanese queer politics, as well as aspects that resemble western queer politics, and those that are constructed by cultural hybridisation. I deploy ntersectionality to explore the diverse experiences of members of Thai and Japanese queer communities in national and globalised contexts. The combination of these frameworks allows my analysis to challenge prevailing ideas about the homogeneous experience of queer people in Asian countries, and the impact upon them of western queer definitions, concepts and political strategies.