Q and A

What does it mean to be queer and Asian-American at the turn of the century? The writers, activists, essayists, and artists who contribute to this volume consider how Asian-American racial identity and queer sexuality interconnect in mutually shaping and complicating ways. Their collective aim (in the words of the editors) is to articulate a new conception of Asian-American racial identity, its heterogeneity, hybridity, and multiplicity-concepts that have after all underpinned the Asian-American moniker from its very inception. "Q & A" approaches matters of identity from a variety of points of view and academic disciplines in order to explore the multiple crossings of race and ethnicity with sexuality and gender.Drawing together the work of visual artists, fiction writers, community organizers, scholars, and participants in roundtable discussions, the collection gathers an array of voices and experiences that represent the emerging communities of a queer Asian-America. Collectively, these contributors contend that Asian-American studies needs to be more attentive to issues of sexuality and that queer studies needs to be more attentive to other aspects of difference, especially race and ethnicity. Vigorously rejecting the notion that a symmetrical relationship between race and homosexuality would weaken lesbian/gay and queer movements, the editors refuse to believe that a desirably queer world is one in which we remain perpetual aliens-queer houseguests-in a queer nation. David L. Eng is Assistant Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Columbia University. Alice Y. Hom is a doctoral candidate in history at Claremont Graduate University.

Preface Introduction Q & A: Notes on a Queer Asian America David L. Eng and Alice Y. Hom Part I: Working Out 1. Going Home: Enacting Justice in Queer Asian America Karin Aguilar-San Juan 2. The Heat Is On Miss Saigon Coalition: Organizing Across Race and Sexuality Yoko Yoshikawa 3. Queer Asian American Immigrants: Opening Borders and Closets Ignatius Bau 4. Coalition Politics: (Re) turning the Century Vera Miao Part II: Im/Proper Images 5. Creating, Curating, and Consuming Queer Asian American Cinema: An Interview with Marie K. Morohoshi Ju Hui Judy Han with Marie K. Morohoshi 6. "A Vaudeville Against Coconut Trees": Colonialism, Contradiction, and Coming Out in Michael Magneye's White Christmas Victor Bascara 7. Looking for My Penis: The Eroticized Asian in Gay Video Porn Richard Fung 8. Lisa's Closet Gaye Chan Part III: Keeping Records 9. Sexuality, Identity, and the Uses of History Nayan Shah 10. history of disease Patti Duncan 11. Queer API Men in Los Angeles: A Roundtable on History and Political Organizing Introduced and edited by Eric C. Wat and Steven Shum 12. Toward a Queer Korean American Diasporic History Jeeyeun Lee Part IV: Closets/Margins 13. Litany Russell Leong 14. Trying fo' Do Anykine to Donna: Fragments of a Prose Work Donna Tsuyuko Tanigawa 15. Transgender/Transsexual Roundtable Transcribed by Diep Khac Tran, Edited by Diep Khac Tran, Bryan, and Rhode 16. Mahu: The Gender Imbalance Jennifer Tseng 17. Curry Queens and Other Spices Sandip Roy Part V: Paternity 18. in his arms Joel Barraquiel Tan 19. The Strange Love of Frank Chin Daniel Y. Kim 20. The Unknowable and Sui Sin Far: The Epistemological Limits of "Oriental" Sexuality Min Song 21. Webs of Betrayal, Webs of Blessings You-Leng Leroy Lim 22. Heterosexuality in the Face of Whiteness: Divided Belief in M. Butterfly David L. Eng Part VI: Out Here and Over There 23. Monster Justin Chin 24. Coming Out into the Global System: Postmodem Patriarchies and Transnational Sexualities in The Wedding Banquet Mark Chiang 25. Incidents of Travel Ju Hui Judy Han 26. Transnational Sexualities: South Asian (Trans)nation(alism)s and Queer Diasporas Jasbir K. Puar Selected Bibliography: Anthologies, Fiction, and Nonfiction Compiled by Alice Y. Hom Resource Guide Compiled by Alice Y. Hom About the Contributors

"Astute, provocative, and exemplary, Q & A: Queer in Asian America sets a bold and serious agenda for engaging race, desire, culture, and globalization today." --Lisa Lowe, author of Immigrant Acts: On Asian-American Cultural Politics "The writers, artists, and activists in Q & A take us to so many fascinating places where 'queer' and 'Asian American' cross paths, that we end up seeing all of American history from a new angle of vision. This brilliant, provocative collection makes clear the kind of intelligence we lose whenever it's assumed that history is heterosexual and that 'queer' equals 'white.'" --Alan Berube, author of Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two "This is a spectacular set of essays that compel an important and creative shifting of perspective within every page. What is 'queer' and what is 'Asian American' turn out to be vitally defined by one another. Timely, brave, necessary, and incisive, this book should change every field that it touches." --Judith Butler, University of California, Berkeley "A breakthrough gathering of voices, astounding in their individual clarity and their collective diversity... Q & A presents a compelling challenge to those who cling to the notion that race and sexual orientation can be considered separate identities, rather than interwoven, interdependent aspects of one's singular social/political self." --Jeff Yang, publisher and founder of A. Magazine: Inside Asian America

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