(Re)constructing ‘Queer Asian’ Histories

Our communities who fall under the ‘Queer Asian’ category often feel invisible in spaces dominated by whiteness. Despite positive societal changes towards diversity and inclusion, our communities continue to struggle to construct culturally and linguistically congruent as we continue to navigate spaces, which fail to include our diverse experiences. This sense of exclusion has often led to a sense of isolation from ‘mainstream’ Queer spaces as our communities continue to experience racism and anti-Queer prejudice. What this means is that our multi-marginalised communities inhabit a ‘closet’ within a ‘closet’. Confucius once said we must recall our past in order to understand our future. How can we develop a sense of identity when our collective histories and narratives have been largely erased? In this presentation, we attempt to reconstruct and identify traces of our communities in Aotearoa New Zealand’s recent history. We consider how discriminatory legislation on Queer and Asian communities have led to this continued process of erasure. By developing an understanding of our collective history, we hope to make these invisible narratives once again visible with the hope to begin deconstructing these ‘closet spaces’. At the end of the presentation, we invite participants to discuss what it means to be ‘Queer’ and ‘Asian’ in contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand and how we can work towards co-constructing an identity that embraces all aspects of our identities.