When Queer Theory Meets Tongzhi in “China”

In recent years, with globalization becoming a key research agenda across the humanities and social sciences, there have been two concurrent developments within the fields of queer studies and Asian studies. On the one hand, proponents of the model of “global queering” like Dennis Altman view globalization of the US models of gay identity as producing what he terms “ordinary gayness” (1996). On the other hand, many queer theorists critique the Eurocentrism of Altman's position, and their works signal a transnational turn through the models of queer diaspora, queer of color critiques, and critiques of queer liberalism and homonationalism.¹ Overall, the transnational turn in queer theory charts alternative modes of belonging by queers who do not center the assimilationist models of US nationalism or the hegemony of Euro-American empires. However, it is fair to say that the critique of US-centrism within queer theory actually means that Asia,...