Gay and Lesbian Asia: Culture, Identity, Community
by Peter A. Jackson and Gerard Sullivan
- Nonfiction
- Publisher:
Haworth Press, Inc.
- Publication Date: 2001
- 273 pages
review
Walter L. Williams: Walter L. Williams, Ph.D., is Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies at the University of Southern California. He has published several books, most notably "The Spirit and the Flesh" and "Overcoming Heterosexism and Homophobia," and is former president of ONE Institute International Gay and Lesbian Archives. He is Editor of the "International Gay and Lesbian Review."
This edited volume of original essays was originally published as a special issue of the JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY v.40, n.3/4, and it follows other valuable edited volumes that these two Australian scholars have published on homosexuality in Thailand and in Australia. In their introductory and concluding chapters, Jackson and Sullivan offer many insights into emerging queer identities in Asia.
Except for the editors and four other Australian authors, what is notable about this volume is that most of the essays are written by Asian scholars. The authors come from the fields of Asian Studies, sociology, anthropology, history, cinema and cultural studies. Besides being well-qualified scholars, the authors have also been pioneering activists whose brave work has helped to bring same-sex relationships out of the shadows in Asia.
Valuable chapters are included on China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, South Korea, and India. They introduce many ideas to improve the lives of those who love their own sex in Asian societies. Major themes of the essays emphasize the importance of class, kinship, patriarchy, religion, and the traditional emphasis on reproduction. Gender variance, human rights and queer discourses in international globalism are all addressed.
This book is a landmark ethnographic record of gay and lesbian Asia at the end of the 20th century, and (along with Sullivan and Jackson's companion volumes on Thailand and Australia) makes a significant contribution to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered studies in contemporary Asia.
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Preferred Citation Format:
International Gay & Lesbian Review
Los Angeles, CA