Queer(N)Asian Im/Migrants’ Connectedness: An Inter-Contextual Decolonial Reading of Wong Kar-Wai&apos;s <i>Happy Together</i>

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Decolonial Horizons

Volume 2

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Queer(N)Asian Im/Migrants’ Connectedness: An Inter-Contextual Decolonial Reading of Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together

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Author(s): Hugo Córdova Quero

Publication date (Print): 2016

Journal: Decolonial Horizons

Publisher: Pluto Journals

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Abstract

This article addresses the dilemmas and complex consequences of queer-sojourners as the locus where sexual, bodily, and colonial discourses transect each other in an inter-contextual movement. Queer(N)Asian im/migrants move through the interplay of identity negotiations entailing personal/societal histories, culture, gender-role expectations, and bodily demarcations. The film Happy Together constitutes a source for the analysis. The article explores first the condition of in-betweenness of the stories of its characters by shedding light on the realm of sexuality and colonialism in the everyday lives of Queer(N)Asian im/migrants. It then focuses on the inter-contextual tone of the film Happy Together through consideration of colonial traces affecting the lives of im/migrants.

Keywords: Queer(N)Asian Im/migrants, Everyday life, Decolonial studies, Queer migrations, Intercontextuality, Queer studies..

Este artículo aborda los dilemas y las complejas consecuencias de viajeros-queer como locus donde discursos sexuales, corporales, y coloniales se interceptan en movimiento inter-contextual. Los im/migrantes Queer(Y)Asiáticos se desplazan en la interacción de negociaciones identitarias envolviendo historias personales/sociales, cultura, expectativas género, y demarcaciones corporales. La película Happy Together constituye la fuente para este análisis. El artículo explora la condición de interludio de las historias de sus personajes para arrojar luz sobre el ámbito de la sexualidad y el colonialismo en la vida cotidiana de im/migrantes Queer(Y)Asiáticos. Luego, se centra en el tono inter-contextual de dicha película través de la consideración de huellas coloniales que afectan a la vida de im/migrantes.

Palabras claves: In/migrantes Queer(Y)Asiáticos, Vida cotidiana, Estudios decoloniales, Migraciones queer, Intercontextualidad, Estudios queer.

Este artigo aborda os dilemas e as complexas consequěncias de viajantes-queer como locus onde discursos sexuais, corporais e coloniais se interceptam em movimento intercontextual. Os im/migrantes Queer(Y)Asiáticos se deslocam na interação de negociações identitárias envolvendo histórias pessoais/sociais, cultura, expectativas de gěnero e demarcações corporais. O filme Happy Together é uma fonte de análise. O artigo explora a condição de interlúdio das histórias de seus personagens para lançar luz sobre o campo da sexualidade e do colonialismo na vida cotidiana de im/migrantes Queer (Y) Asiáticos. Em seguida, se concentra no tom intercontextual do filme através da consideração de traços coloniais que afetam a vida de im/migrantes.

Palavras-chave: Imigrantes Queer(e)Asiáticos, Vida cotidiana, Estudos descoloniais, Migraçãoes queer, Intercontextualidade, Estudos queer.

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Contributors

Hugo Córdova Quero

Journal

Journal ID (doi): 10.13169

Journal ID (publisher-id): decohori

Title: Decolonial Horizons

Publisher: Pluto Journals

ISSN (Electronic): 24226343

Publication date (Print): 2016

Volume: 2

Pages: 107-139

Affiliations

Graduate Theological Union

Article

Publisher ID: decohori.2.0107

DOI: 10.13169/decohori.2.0107

SO-VID: 97ef36cd-cc1a-487e-81af-31bec4fb453c

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History

Bibliographic References

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Aristotle (1981). Poetics , VI, translated by Leon Golden. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University Press.
Bao, Hongwei (2012). «Queering/Querying Cosmopolitanism: Queer Spaces in Shanghai.» Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research 4: pp. 97–120.
Barei, Silvia N. (1993). El sentido de la fiesta en la cultura popular . Córdoba: Alción Editora.
Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (2010). Buenos Aires, Thursday July 22.
Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (2012). Buenos Aires, Tuesday May 29.
Brooker, Peter (2003). A Glossary of Cultural Theory. London: Arnold.
Brunette, Peter (2005). Wong Kar-Wai. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
Cheng, Patrick. S. (2011). «'I Am Yellow and Beautiful': Reflections on Queer Asian Spirituality and Gay Male Cyberculture.» Journal of Technology, Theology, and Religion 2, No. 3: pp. 1–21.
Chou, Wah-Shan (2005). Tongzhi: Politics of Same-Sex Eroticism in Chinese Societies New York, NY: The Haworth Press.
Córdova Quero, Hugo (2003). «Building up Ancestors in Argentinean Popular Culture: The Cases of Santa Gilda and El Angel Rodrigo.» Studies in World Christianity 9, No. 1: pp. 5–29.
Córdova Quero, Hugo (2016). «'Son todos chinos': Etnicidad y formación de identidad entre inmigrantes chinos en Córdoba, Argentina». In: Representaciones de China en las Américas y en la Península Ibérica (Colección Biblioteca de China Contemporánea), edited by Joaquín Beltrán Antolín, Francisco Javier Haro, and Amelia Sáiz López. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, pp. 175–203.
Dasgupta, Romit (2006). «The Film Bishônen and Queer(n)Asia Through Japanese Popular Culture.» In: Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan , edited by Matthew Allen and Rumi Sakamoto. London: Routledge, pp. 56–74.
De Certeau, Michel (1988). The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Farajajé, Ibrahim Abdurrahman (2000). «Loving “Queer”: We Are All a Big Mix of Possibilities of Desire Just Waiting to Happen». In The Family 6, N° 1 (verano): pp. 15–21.
Foucault, Michel (1990). History of Sexuality: An Introduction , Volume 1. New York, NY: Vintage Books.
Fung, Richard (1998). «Looking for My Penis.» In: Queer in Asian America , edited by David L. Eng and Alice Y. Hom. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, pp. 115–134.
Gardner, James (2015). Buenos Aires: The Biography of a City . New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.
Green, Adam Isaiah (2008). «The Social Organization of Desire: The Sexual Fields Approach.» Sociological Theory 26, No.1: pp. 25–50.
Halperin Donghi, Tulio (1992). Historia Contemporánea de América Latina . Buenos Aires: Alianza Editorial.
Jones, Daniel (2004). «La mirada de los otros: Discursos sobre la diferencia sexual en un grupo de adolescentes del interior argentino.» Paper presented at the 25th Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, October 7-9, Las Vegas, Nevada.
Johnson, Lyman L. (2011). Workshop of Revolution: Plebeian Buenos Aires and the Atlantic World, 1776–1810 . Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Lefebvre, Henri (1991 [1947]). Critique of Everyday Life: Foundations for a Sociology of the Everyday, Volume 1 , Translated by John Moore. London: Verso.
Pang, Yi-Ping (1997). «Chunguang Zhaxie: 97 Qian Rang Women Kuaile Zai Yiqi» [Happy Together: Let's be happy together before '97]. Dianying Shuangzhou Kan [City entertainment] 473 (29 May-11 June): p. 41; quoted by Teo (2005: 99).
Poljski, Carolyn (2011). Coming Out, Coming Home or Inviting People in? Supporting Same-Sex Attracted Women from Immigrant and Refugee Communities . Melbourne: Multicultural Centre for Women's Health.
Puig, Manuel (1973). The Buenos Aires Affair. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana.
Quiroga, José (2000). Tropics of Desire: Interventions from Queer Latino America. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Richey, Jeffrey William (2007). «White Mestizaje: Soccer and the Construction of Argentine Racial Identity, 1924-1930.» Master's Thesis. Chapell Hill, NC: University of North Carolina at Chapell Hill.
Rodríguez, Juana María (2003). Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces. New York, NY: New York University Press.
Rubin, Gayle (1993). «Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality.» In: The Gay and Lesbian Studies Reader , edited by Henry Abelove, Michele Aina Barale, and David M. Halperin. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 3–44.
Said, Edward (1978). Orientalism . New York, NY: Vintage Books.
Salessi, Jorge (1995). «The Argentine Dissemination of Homosexuality, 1890-1914.» In: ¿Entiendes?: Queer Readings, Hispanic Writings , edited by Emilie L. Bergmann and Paul Julian Smith. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, pp. 49–91.
Schneider, Arnd (2000). Futures Lost: Nostalgia and Identity Among Italian Immigrants in Argentina . Bern: Peter Lang.
Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam (1994). Unthinking Eurocentricism: Multiculturalism and the Media. London: Routledge.
Sullivan Andrew (1995). Virtually Normal. An Argument about Homosexuality. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.
Tambling, Jeremy (2003). Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together. Hong Kong, SAR: Hong Kong University Press.
Taylor, Gary y Steve Spencer (2004). Social Identities: Multidisciplinary Approaches . London: Routledge.
Teo, Stephen (2005). Wong Kar-Wai. London: British Film Institute.
Wilson, Jason (2007). Buenos Aires: A Cultural and Literary History . Oxford: Signal Books.
Wong, Andrew D. (2005). «The Reappropriation of Tongzhi.» Language in Society 34: pp. 763–793.
Wong, Kar-Wai, Dir. (1997). Happy Together , 97 minutes, in Cantonese. Hong Kong, SAR: Kino International.
Yue, Audrey (2000). «What's So Queer About Happy Together? a.k.a Queer(N)Asian: Interface, Community, Belonging.» Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 1, No. 2: pp. 251–264.

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Anzaldúa, Gloria (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza . San Francisco, CA: Aunt Lute Books.

[2] Aristotle (1981). Poetics , VI, translated by Leon Golden. Tallahassee, FL: Florida State University Press.

[3] Bao, Hongwei (2012). «Queering/Querying Cosmopolitanism: Queer Spaces in Shanghai.» Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research 4: pp. 97–120.

[4] Barei, Silvia N. (1993). El sentido de la fiesta en la cultura popular . Córdoba: Alción Editora.

[5] Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (2010). Buenos Aires, Thursday July 22.

[6] Boletín Oficial de la República Argentina (2012). Buenos Aires, Tuesday May 29.

[7] Brooker, Peter (2003). A Glossary of Cultural Theory. London: Arnold.

[8] Brunette, Peter (2005). Wong Kar-Wai. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

[9] Cheng, Patrick. S. (2011). «'I Am Yellow and Beautiful': Reflections on Queer Asian Spirituality and Gay Male Cyberculture.» Journal of Technology, Theology, and Religion 2, No. 3: pp. 1–21.

[10] Chou, Wah-Shan (2005). Tongzhi: Politics of Same-Sex Eroticism in Chinese Societies New York, NY: The Haworth Press.

[11] Córdova Quero, Hugo (2003). «Building up Ancestors in Argentinean Popular Culture: The Cases of Santa Gilda and El Angel Rodrigo.» Studies in World Christianity 9, No. 1: pp. 5–29.

[12] Córdova Quero, Hugo (2016). «'Son todos chinos': Etnicidad y formación de identidad entre inmigrantes chinos en Córdoba, Argentina». In: Representaciones de China en las Américas y en la Península Ibérica (Colección Biblioteca de China Contemporánea), edited by Joaquín Beltrán Antolín, Francisco Javier Haro, and Amelia Sáiz López. Barcelona: Edicions Bellaterra, pp. 175–203.

[13] Dasgupta, Romit (2006). «The Film Bishônen and Queer(n)Asia Through Japanese Popular Culture.» In: Popular Culture, Globalization and Japan , edited by Matthew Allen and Rumi Sakamoto. London: Routledge, pp. 56–74.

[14] De Certeau, Michel (1988). The Practice of Everyday Life. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

[15] Farajajé, Ibrahim Abdurrahman (2000). «Loving “Queer”: We Are All a Big Mix of Possibilities of Desire Just Waiting to Happen». In The Family 6, N° 1 (verano): pp. 15–21.

[16] Foucault, Michel (1990). History of Sexuality: An Introduction , Volume 1. New York, NY: Vintage Books.

[17] Fung, Richard (1998). «Looking for My Penis.» In: Queer in Asian America , edited by David L. Eng and Alice Y. Hom. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, pp. 115–134.

[18] Gardner, James (2015). Buenos Aires: The Biography of a City . New York, NY: St. Martin's Press.

[19] Green, Adam Isaiah (2008). «The Social Organization of Desire: The Sexual Fields Approach.» Sociological Theory 26, No.1: pp. 25–50.

[20] Halperin Donghi, Tulio (1992). Historia Contemporánea de América Latina . Buenos Aires: Alianza Editorial.

[21] Jones, Daniel (2004). «La mirada de los otros: Discursos sobre la diferencia sexual en un grupo de adolescentes del interior argentino.» Paper presented at the 25th Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, October 7-9, Las Vegas, Nevada.

[22] Johnson, Lyman L. (2011). Workshop of Revolution: Plebeian Buenos Aires and the Atlantic World, 1776–1810 . Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

[23] Lefebvre, Henri (1991 [1947]). Critique of Everyday Life: Foundations for a Sociology of the Everyday, Volume 1 , Translated by John Moore. London: Verso.

[24] Pang, Yi-Ping (1997). «Chunguang Zhaxie: 97 Qian Rang Women Kuaile Zai Yiqi» [Happy Together: Let's be happy together before '97]. Dianying Shuangzhou Kan [City entertainment] 473 (29 May-11 June): p. 41; quoted by Teo (2005: 99).

[25] Poljski, Carolyn (2011). Coming Out, Coming Home or Inviting People in? Supporting Same-Sex Attracted Women from Immigrant and Refugee Communities . Melbourne: Multicultural Centre for Women's Health.

[26] Puig, Manuel (1973). The Buenos Aires Affair. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana.

[27] Quiroga, José (2000). Tropics of Desire: Interventions from Queer Latino America. New York, NY: New York University Press.

[28] Richey, Jeffrey William (2007). «White Mestizaje: Soccer and the Construction of Argentine Racial Identity, 1924-1930.» Master's Thesis. Chapell Hill, NC: University of North Carolina at Chapell Hill.

[29] Rodríguez, Juana María (2003). Queer Latinidad: Identity Practices, Discursive Spaces. New York, NY: New York University Press.

[30] Rubin, Gayle (1993). «Thinking Sex: Notes for a Radical Theory of the Politics of Sexuality.» In: The Gay and Lesbian Studies Reader , edited by Henry Abelove, Michele Aina Barale, and David M. Halperin. New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 3–44.

[31] Said, Edward (1978). Orientalism . New York, NY: Vintage Books.

[32] Salessi, Jorge (1995). «The Argentine Dissemination of Homosexuality, 1890-1914.» In: ¿Entiendes?: Queer Readings, Hispanic Writings , edited by Emilie L. Bergmann and Paul Julian Smith. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, pp. 49–91.

[33] Schneider, Arnd (2000). Futures Lost: Nostalgia and Identity Among Italian Immigrants in Argentina . Bern: Peter Lang.

[34] Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam (1994). Unthinking Eurocentricism: Multiculturalism and the Media. London: Routledge.

[35] Sullivan Andrew (1995). Virtually Normal. An Argument about Homosexuality. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

[36] Tambling, Jeremy (2003). Wong Kar-Wai's Happy Together. Hong Kong, SAR: Hong Kong University Press.

[37] Taylor, Gary y Steve Spencer (2004). Social Identities: Multidisciplinary Approaches . London: Routledge.

[38] Teo, Stephen (2005). Wong Kar-Wai. London: British Film Institute.

[39] Wilson, Jason (2007). Buenos Aires: A Cultural and Literary History . Oxford: Signal Books.

[40] Wong, Andrew D. (2005). «The Reappropriation of Tongzhi.» Language in Society 34: pp. 763–793.

[41] Wong, Kar-Wai, Dir. (1997). Happy Together , 97 minutes, in Cantonese. Hong Kong, SAR: Kino International.

[42] Yue, Audrey (2000). «What's So Queer About Happy Together? a.k.a Queer(N)Asian: Interface, Community, Belonging.» Inter-Asia Cultural Studies 1, No. 2: pp. 251–264.