Queering Taiwan Studies

Organized by Shu-mei Shih (Edward W. Said Professor of Comparative Literature, Asian Languages and Cultures, and Asian American Studies, UCLA) and Howard Chiang (Associate Professor of History, UC Davis)

This conference is presented as part of the UCLA-NTNU Taiwan Studies Initiative, a partnership of UCLA and National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) that aims to create research synergies to promote cutting-edge research in Taiwan studies.

Ku'er, the Mandarin transliteration of the English word "queer," has a distinctly Taiwanese genealogy, as implied in the homophonic meaning of being "cool." This conference examines the interrelationships between queer studies and Taiwan studies, from placing Taiwanese history and culture on the map of queer inquiry to the queering of Taiwan studies. Does queer Taiwan studies mean a focus on queer content, or is "queering" a method that can be used in studying any content in Taiwan studies? In light of the emergence of queer indigenous studies and queer of color critique in North America, how might we consider the question of indigeneity, race and ethnicity in queering Taiwan studies? Ultimately, what can a focus on Taiwan do to exceed the existing limits of queer theory, and how might the method of queering advance the transgressive potential of Taiwan studies?

Program:

Thursday, April 28, 4–7:20 p.m. (PDT)

4–4:30 p.m. — Opening and Introductions

Moderator: Shu-mei Shih, UCLA

Cindy Fan, Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement, UCLA
Cheng-chih Wu, President, National Taiwan Normal University
Min Zhou, Director, UCLA Asia Pacific Center
Nikky Lin, Professor and Associate Vice President for International Affairs, NTNU
Howard Chiang, UC Davis

4:30–6 p.m. — Panel 1: Queer Indigeneity

Moderator: Min Zhou (UCLA)

Howard Chiang, UC Davis —
Is Queer Indigeneity Comparable? The Question of Racial Capitalism in Taiwan

Yu-ting Huang, Wesleyan University —
"In Our Kingdom": Queer Space-making in Settler Colonial Taiwan

Kyle Shernuk, Queen Mary University of London —
Queerness as: Indigenous Desire, Ethnicity and Disciplinarity in Taiwan Studies

6:10–7:20 p.m. — Panel 2: Lesbianism and the Politics of History

Moderator: Fran Martin (University of Melbourne)

Ta-wei Chi, National Cheng-chih University —
Throwing Like a Colonized Girl: A Phenomenology of Female-Female Eroticism in Taiwan Under Japan

Hsiu-ping Tseng, National Taiwan Normal University, with translator Greta Hagedorn —
Taiwan Queers, Hong Kong Allegories, Macau Utopias-Lesbian Love and Allegorical National Narratives in Butterfly (2004)

Friday, April 29, 4–7:20 p.m. (PDT)

4–5:30 p.m. — Panel 3: Queer Cultural Forms and Value

Moderator: Ari Heinrich (Australian National University)

Jih-fei Cheng, Scripps College —
From Coolie to Ku'er: Racial Capitalism, Queer of Color Critique, and the Production of Pork and Surplus Value in Taiwan

Chia-chi Wu, National Taiwan Normal University —
Queer Film and Queer Form: Blue Gate Crossing (Lanse damen)

Li-ping Chen, USC —
Queering Folk Culture, Local Identity and Nativist Literature

5:40–7:10 Panel 4: Queer Theory and Activism

Moderator: Howard Chiang (UC Davis)

Wen Liu, Academia Sinica —
Queer Taiwan in War Times: The Problem of Perpetual Cold Warism in Queer Theory

Ying-Chao Kao, Virginia Commonwealth University —
Conservative Sexual Liquidity: Taiwanizing anti-Queer Theory, Queering Taiwanese Anti-"Tongzhi" Conservatism

Shih-chan Dai, UCLA —
A Legal-Political Perspective of "Queer" in Taiwan: Analysis of J.Y. Interpretation 748 and the Act for Implementing Interpretation 748

7:20–7:40 pm: Open Discussion and Conclusion

Moderated by Shu-mei Shih