Elisabeth L. Engebretsen - Böcker

Lala (lesbian) and gay communities in mainland China have emerged rapidly in the 21st century. Alongside new freedoms and modernizing reforms, and with mainstream media and society increasingly tolerant, lalas still experience immense family and social pressures to a degree that this book argues is deeply gendered. The first anthropological study to examine everyday lala lives, intimacies, and communities in China, the chapters explore changing articulations of sexual subjectivity, gendered T-P (tomboy-wife) roles, family and kinship, same-sex weddings, lala-gay contract marriages, and community activism. Engebretsen analyzes lala strategies of complicit transgressions to balance surface respectability and undeclared same-sex desires, why "being normal" emerges a deep aspiration and sign of respectability, and why openly lived homosexuality and public activism often are not.Queer Women in Urban China develops a critical ethnographic analysis through the conceptual lens of "different normativities," tracing the paradoxes and intricacies of the desire for normal life alongside aspirations for recognition, equality, and freedom, and argues that dominant paradigms fixed on categories, identities, and the absolute value of public visibility are ill-equipped to fully understand these complexities. This book complements existing perspectives on sexual and gender diversity, contemporary China, and the politics and theories of justice, recognition, and similitude in global times.

Interdisciplinary in perspective, this book explores contemporary struggles around ‘identity politics’ in Europe, offering a unique glimpse into contemporary tensions and paradoxes surrounding identities, belonging, exclusions and their deep-seated gendered, colonial and racist legacies. With a particular focus on the Nordic region, it provides insights into the ways in which people who find themselves in minoritized positions struggle against multiple injustices. Through a series of case studies documenting counter-struggles against racist, colonialist, sexist forms of discrimination and exclusion, Transforming Identities in Contemporary Europe asks how the paradigm and politics of the welfare state operate to discriminate against the most marginalized, by instating a naturalized hierarchy of human-ness. As such it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences and humanities with interests in race, gender, colonialism and postcolonialism, citizenship and belonging.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Interdisciplinary in perspective, this book explores contemporary struggles around ‘identity politics’ in Europe, offering a unique glimpse into contemporary tensions and paradoxes surrounding identities, belonging, exclusions and their deep-seated gendered, colonial and racist legacies. With a particular focus on the Nordic region, it provides insights into the ways in which people who find themselves in minoritized positions struggle against multiple injustices. Through a series of case studies documenting counter-struggles against racist, colonialist, sexist forms of discrimination and exclusion, Transforming Identities in Contemporary Europe asks how the paradigm and politics of the welfare state operate to discriminate against the most marginalized, by instating a naturalized hierarchy of human-ness. As such it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences and humanities with interests in race, gender, colonialism and postcolonialism, citizenship and belonging.The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Lala (lesbian) and gay communities in mainland China have emerged rapidly in the 21st century. Alongside new freedoms and modernizing reforms, and with mainstream media and society increasingly tolerant, lalas still experience immense family and social pressures to a degree that this book argues is deeply gendered. The first anthropological study to examine everyday lala lives, intimacies, and communities in China, the chapters explore changing articulations of sexual subjectivity, gendered T-P (tomboy-wife) roles, family and kinship, same-sex weddings, lala-gay contract marriages, and community activism. Engebretsen analyzes lala strategies of complicit transgressions to balance surface respectability and undeclared same-sex desires, why "being normal" emerges a deep aspiration and sign of respectability, and why openly lived homosexuality and public activism often are not.Queer Women in Urban China develops a critical ethnographic analysis through the conceptual lens of "different normativities," tracing the paradoxes and intricacies of the desire for normal life alongside aspirations for recognition, equality, and freedom, and argues that dominant paradigms fixed on categories, identities, and the absolute value of public visibility are ill-equipped to fully understand these complexities. This book complements existing perspectives on sexual and gender diversity, contemporary China, and the politics and theories of justice, recognition, and similitude in global times.

Bringing together scholars and scholar-activists from a wide range of disciplines, this groundbreaking book delves into the diversity and vibrancy of feminist activism in Xi-era China.Feminist Activism in the Post-2010s Sinosphere examines a variety of urgent feminist issues in 21st-century China, including the #MeToo movement, online misogyny, feminism in popular media, and the experiences and rights of queer, trans and ethnic minority groups. The chapters explore shifting dynamics between state feminism, NGO and grassroots movements, the intersection of academia and intellectual discourse, the interplay of art and activism, the increasing reliance on digital media platforms, and the evolving (re)formations of transnational and diasporic alliances, alongside their creative strategic practices.Drawing on timely research and situated knowledges, the contributors offer innovative and provocative perspectives, supported by nuanced conceptual frameworks and rich empirical data. What are the specific characteristics of feminist activism grounded in the Sinosphere and Chinese contexts today? How is violence analyzed through an intersectional lens, and how do feminist engagements respond to precarity in the context of a pandemic and authoritarian governance?This anthology is an insightful and stimulating read for anyone interested in intersectional feminist mobilizations, contemporary Sinophone and Chinese society and politics, and LGBTQ+ studies.

Bringing together scholars and scholar-activists from a wide range of disciplines, this groundbreaking book delves into the diversity and vibrancy of feminist activism in Xi-era China.Feminist Activism in the Post-2010s Sinosphere examines a variety of urgent feminist issues in 21st-century China, including the #MeToo movement, online misogyny, feminism in popular media, and the experiences and rights of queer, trans and ethnic minority groups. The chapters explore shifting dynamics between state feminism, NGO and grassroots movements, the intersection of academia and intellectual discourse, the interplay of art and activism, the increasing reliance on digital media platforms, and the evolving (re)formations of transnational and diasporic alliances, alongside their creative strategic practices.Drawing on timely research and situated knowledges, the contributors offer innovative and provocative perspectives, supported by nuanced conceptual frameworks and rich empirical data. What are the specific characteristics of feminist activism grounded in the Sinosphere and Chinese contexts today? How is violence analyzed through an intersectional lens, and how do feminist engagements respond to precarity in the context of a pandemic and authoritarian governance?This anthology is an insightful and stimulating read for anyone interested in intersectional feminist mobilizations, contemporary Sinophone and Chinese society and politics, and LGBTQ+ studies.