Queering Asia,querying method

Abstract

This position paper responds to the topic of “Queer Asia as Method” by addressing each keyword individually and incrementally as phrases. It begins with the term “Asia” and argues that oppression still suffered by gendered and queer subjects in many parts of Asia should caution us against celebratory discourses in the name of Asia. It moves on to consider the notion of “Asia as method” and suggests that a hostility to theory in the name of method betrays a spectrum of affective-cognitive reflexes that smack of (at best) unconscious bias to (at worst) toxic masculinity. Lastly, it proposes that “queering Asia as method” demands that we reflect upon what we do and why we do it, rather than who we are and how we do things. In the final analysis, there are cultural and political battles yet to be fought – and won – in queering Asia and querying method.