Postcolonial Lesbian Identities in Singapore: Re-thinking Global Sexualities PDF
Preview Postcolonial Lesbian Identities in Singapore: Re-thinking Global Sexualities
Postcolonial Lesbian Identities in Singapore Taking lesbians in Singapore as a case study, this book explores the possibility of a modern gay identity, in a postcolonial society, that is not dependent on Western queer norms. It looks at the core question of how this identity can be reconciled with local culture and how it relates to global modernities and dominant understandings of what it means to be queer. It engages with debates about globalisation, postcolonialism and sexuality, while emphasising the speci ficity, diversity and interconnectedness of local lesbian sexualities. Shawna Tang is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Western Sydney University, Australia. Formerly a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Asia Research Institute, National Univer sity of Singapore, and former Deputy Editor of International Sociology, she obtained her PhD at the Department of Sociology at the University of Sydney. Routledge Research on Gender in Asia Series 3 Sex Trafficking in South Asia 10 Gender, Governance and Telling Maya’s Story Empowerment in India Mary Crawford Sreevidya Kalaramadam 4 Religion, Gender and Politics in 11 Social Transformation in Indonesia Post- conflict Nepal Disputing the Muslim Body A Gender Perspective Sonja van Wichelen Punam Yadav 5 Gender and Family in East Asia 12 Motherhood and Work in Edited by Siumi Maria Tam, Contemporary Japan Wai- ching Angela Wong and Junko Nishimura Danning Wang 13 Gender, Violence and the State 6 Dalit Women’s Education in in Asia Modern India Edited by Amy Barrow and Double Discrimination Joy L. Chia Shailaja Paik 14 Intimacy and Reproduction in 7 New Modern Chinese Women Contemporary Japan and Gender Politics Genaro Castro- Vázquez Ya- chen Chen 15 Postcolonial Lesbian Identities 8 Women and the Politics of in Singapore Representation in Southeast Re thinking global sexualities Asia Shawna Tang Engendering Discourse in Singapore and Malaysia 16 Unmarried Women in Japan Edited by Adeline Koh and The drift into singlehood Yu- Mei Balasingamchow Akiko Yoshida 9 Women and Conflict in India Sanghamitra Choudhury Postcolonial Lesbian Identities in Singapore Re thinking global sexualities Shawna Tang First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 Shawna Tang The right of Shawna Tang to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Names: Tang, Shawna, author. Title: Postcolonial lesbian identities in Singapore : rethinking global sexualities / by Shawna Tang. Description: New York : Routledge, [2016] | Series: Routledge research on gender in Asia series ; 15 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016019401| ISBN 9781138855175 (hardback) | ISBN 9781315720500 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Lesbianism–Singapore. | Sexual orientation–Singapore. | Postcolonialism–Singapore. | Sex role and globalization–Singapore. Classification: LCC HQ75.6.S55 T36 2016 | DDC 306.76095957–dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016019401 ISBN: 9781138855175 (hbk) ISBN: 9781315720500 (ebk) Typeset in Galliard by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear In loving memory of my beautiful mother, Sally Tey Kwi Hong (1944–2013) Contents Acknowledgements x 1 Introduction 1 Women who love women in Singapore 1 Queer- ed in an Anglo- American way: the globalisation of same- sex identities 3 The queer Asia critique and specificities of Asian queer sexualities 7 The arsenal of Asian ‘lesbian’ research, and the absence of Singapore 10 Locating female non- normative sexualities in Singapore’s modernity 12 Subjects in question, central provocations and theoretical interventions 15 Road map 18 2 Conceptual underpinnings of global queering 22 SECTION ONE A genealogy of the global gay? 23 Globalisation in the global gay domain, and Altman’s antimony 26 Specifying the ‘other side’: non- Western sexualities in the global gay domain 28 Theoretical problematic and persistent logics: an elementary framework 34 Searching for historical tradition and specific local cultural experience 36 SECTION TWO Towards a postcolonial LGQ studies 38 The postcolonial orientation of queer Asian scholarships 42 viii Contents Re- theorising hybridisation 44 Turning to ‘transnationality’ 47 Coda 50 3 Postcolonial Singapore: state, nationalism and sexuality 51 Sexuality, state and nationalism in a postcolonial world 52 Setting the conceptual context: ‘state’, ‘nationalism’ and ‘sexuality’ 54 Specifying Singapore’s postcolonial historical context 57 State policing, portrayals and pronouncements of homosexuality in Singapore 62 4 Sexual politics in Singapore: sodomy law and lesbian resistance 76 A parliamentary petition against Section 377A 78 A leadership tussle over lesbianism 85 Coda 89 5 Transnational politics of local queer activism and lesbian activists 91 Fostering queer consciousness in fraught discursive tropes 93 Queering Singapore: local to transnational spaces for lesbian and gay organising 99 Pink Dot 102 The reverse implantation of Pink Dot 106 Reflections on the local queer movement 108 Early lesbian agency in Singapore 112 Transnational lesbian activism 116 Politics of ‘coming out’ and ‘gaining visibility’ 118 Political significance of hybridising, transnational sexualities 119 6 ‘Modern’ lesbian lives in postcolonial Singapore 124 Prelude 124 Analysing Singaporean lesbian women’s experiences 126 Agency, subjects and structure 127 Queer? No way! I am not weird: labels and gendered lesbian lives 129 ‘Coming out’ in the city-s tate 147 A queer turn 159 Contents ix 7 Recollections, remarks and re-m aking the relations: a postcolonial politics of difference 162 Poststructuralism, state- sexuality relations and local resistance 165 Final notes 168 Methodological appendix 170 References 179 Index 198
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