Speaker: Prof. Lucetta Y. L. Kam (金曄路), Associate Professor, Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, Hong Kong Baptist University

Registration: https://bit.ly/2Q0YQqY

Abstract:

This presentation is about my ongoing research project that explores the transnational mobility experience of young Chinese queer women (lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer identified women) from mainland China to Australia.

Based on the interviews and observation (2016-18) done in China and Australia of queer women planning to leave and have left China, the presentation centres on their narratives and experiences of going abroad, chuguo. The economic and social transformation in China has given rise to a new class of mobile urbanites. Going abroad has become a preferred life plan for the young elites and the single child generation from an urban middle class family background. In addition to the general trend of going abroad in contemporary China, sexuality and gender-nonconformity have played a role in queer women’s stories of mobility. This presentation will look at how transnational mobility and sexuality (gender unconformity) are intertwined in queer women’s crafting of their life aspiration, and how the intersection of sexuality, gender, ethnicity and class works to define queer Chinese women’s mobility and immobility at home and at the host country.

Speaker's Biography:

Dr. Lucetta Y. L. Kam is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Creative Writing at Hong Kong Baptist University. Her research interests are queer mobility of Chinese women, Chinese gender and sexuality studies, and queer popular culture in East Asia. Her ongoing projects include queer mobility of Chinese women from China in Australia. She is the author of Shanghai Lalas: Female Tongzhi Communities and Politics in Urban China (2013; Chinese edition 2015).