June 2016 – Queer Asia Conference

Queer Asia 2016 Conference (Day 1) – 10th June 2016

Day 1

10^th June, 2016

Venues: Khalili Lecture Theatre(KLT) (Main Building) and B111 (Brunei Gallery)

0830 – 0900 Registration (KLT Foyer)

0900 – 0950 Key Note; “A queer utopia: Love, dissent and empathy in contemporary times” by Arvind Narrain, Geneva Director, ARC International

1000 – 1130 Concurrent Sessions

In Pursuit of Celluloid Happiness (Film Studies)

Venue: KLT (Main Building)

1. “Queer Film Making Project of KimJo-KwangSoo, To Pursue Happiness towards Queer” JaeWook Ryu (Lancaster University)
2. “We Are Dalit Only: Representation and Abjection of Queer Sexualities and Castes inPapilio Buddha” Lars Olav Aaberg (University of Oslo)
3. “‘Thinking is in the Grey Area’: Family, Home, Gender and Diaspora in the Paper Dolls” Aeyal Gross (SOAS, University of London)
4. “Towards a ‘Negative aesthetic’: Bombay Talkies and Queer Futures of popular cinema” Sameer Chopra (University of Delhi)

Transing in Asia (Transgender/ Hijra/ Kothi/ Law)

Venue: B111 (Brunei Gallery)

1. “‘I am not queer’: representing the ‘queer’ subject in contemporary India”Jennifer Ung Loh (SOAS, University of London)
2. “Changing the Traditional Body: Queering the Nupo Sabis of Shumang Leela in Meitei Society Sunny Gurumayam (Ambedkar University Delhi)
3. “A Man or a Woman?: A Question of Femininity and Masculinity with regards to Transgender Identities in Sri Lanka” H. Unnati (University of Colombo)
4. “Are Hijras Queer?” Ina Goel (University College London)

1130 – 1135 Transition

1135 – 1320 Concurrent Sessions

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

Venue: KLT (Main Building)

1. “The ‘Queer Unwanted’ and ‘Junkification’ in Kim Hyena’s 2012 Novel <정크> (“Junk“)” Allan C. Simpson (SOAS, University of London)
2. “From Closet to Pride: A 20 Year History of  Queer Art in Vietnam” Christina Nualart (Universidad Complutense Madrid)
3. “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)
4. “Towards a historiography of normativity: at the interstices of ‘queer’ and Tagore” J. Daniel Luther (SOAS, University of London)
5. “Queering Art Criticism in the Worldly Kingdom” Brian Curtin (Bangkok University)

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

Venue: B111 (Brunei Gallery)

1. “Degrowth: An attempt at decolonising and queering it” Riya Raphael (Lund University)
2. “Bold is Beautiful: Smart economics and homonormativity in India” Amar Nijhawan (London School of Economics and Political Science)
3. “Performance Spectacle and the Commodification of Queer Bodies; Live Show on Chinese Gay Social Apps” Wang Shuaishuai (University of Amsterdam)
4. “Camouflage of Cosmopolitanism: Questing Queer Transnationality in Neo-Liberal China” Ben Lu (Chinese University of Hong Kong)

1320 – 1415 Lunch

1415 – 1545 Concurrent Sessions

Coming Undone! (Law)

Venue: KLT (Main Building)

1. “Decriminalisation of Homosexuality in the Criminal Code of Mongolia: Can Nomads be Genuinely Queer” Otgonbaatar Tsedendemberel (Mahidol University)
2. “Heteronormativity and Family: the Move from Status to Contract in Matrimonial Laws in India” Kavana Ramaswamy (O. P. Jindal Global University)
3. “The Production of Queer Spaces in India” Karan Katoch (University of Oxford)
4. “Sexual Diversity and the Legal Frame in Iraq and Kurdistan Region” Amir Ashour (Iraqueer)

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

Venue: B111 (Brunei Gallery)

1. “Queering Gender: The Zhongxing (Neutral Gender/ Sex) Phenomenon in Hong Kong and Urban China” Eva Cheuk-Yin Li (King’s College London)
2. “Performing the closet: gay anti-identities in Singaporean a capella choirs” Shzr Ee Tan (Royal Holloway, University of London)
3. “Ghar wapsiand the politics of caste and queer at Bombay Pride” Jacquelyn Strey (SOAS, University of London)
4. “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)

1545 – 1600 Tea Break

1600 – 1745 Concurrent Sessions

Queerglossia I (Religion/ Linguistics)

Venue: KLT (Main Building)

1. “Queer Indonesian Muslims: Progressive Islam and the Negotiation of LGBT and Muslim Identities” Diego García Rodríquez (Lund University)
2. “A Queer Postcolonial Critique of LGBT-Inclusive Churches in Taiwan” Wei-Jen Chen (Chicago Theological Seminary)
3. “Sinoglossia Incarnate: The Entanglements of Castration across the Pacific” Howard Chiang (University of Warwick)
4. “(No longer) His Master’s Voice” Sachin Jain (Gaylaxy Magazine)

Queerglossia II (Theatre/ Caste)

Venue: B111 (Brunei Gallery)

1. “‘Queer thinking’ in the early twentieth century China” Miha Fugina (London School of Economics and Political Science)
2. “The Politics of Powerlessness and Otherness in East Asia: From Queer Assemblage to Rainbow Coalition” Po-Han Lee (University of Sussex)
3. “Fieldwork, gender, sexuality and the dilemmas of ‘fitting in’in the rural Indian context” Regina Hansda (University of Cambridge)
4. “Performing Sexuality on Cyberspace: Understanding Viral Politics of Pink Chaddi Campaign (2009) and Gay for a Day (2013)” Priyam Ghosh (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

1800 – 1830 Poetry over Wine

I Want To 377 You So Bad: Poems from Queer Delhi by Akhil Katyal, writer, translator, Assistant Professor Shiv Nadar University

Tickets available on eventbrite here

Queer Asia 2016 Conference (Day 2) – 11th June 2016

Day 2

11^th June, 2016 | Venue: DLT (Kamran Djam Lecture Theatre)

10:00 – 10:30 – Registration in the DLT Foyer

10:30 – 12:00 – … Ebang Bewarish ( … And the Unclaimed) (Film Screening)

Directed by Debalina
Post Screening Q & A
Chair: Prof. Rachel Dwyer (SOAS, University of London)

12:00 – 13:00- Lunch Break

13:15 – 14: 45-  ‘How Gay is Pakistan’ (Film Screening)

Directed by Masood Khan
Post Screening dialogue with Masood Khan and Asifa Lahore
Chair: TBC

14:45 – 15:15- Break

15:15 – 16:45 – 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)

16:45 – 17:00 – Break

17:00 – 19:00- Out and Coming in ‘Queer’ Asia: Identity, Developments and Challenges(Panel Discussion)

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)
   Chair: Aapurv Jain

19:00 – Drinks Reception