Time: Saturday May 11, 1:30-3:00 PM

Venue: WDR 1003

Speaker: Casey James Miller, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Muhlenberg College

Abstract:

Inside the Circle is the first book to explore queer (tongzhi 同志) culture and activism in northwest China. Drawing on ethnographic data collected over a decade of fieldwork in urban northwest China from 2007–2019 involving over 70 people from local queer communities, civil society organizations, and government agencies, the book offers a novel, compelling, and intimately personal perspective on Chinese queer culture and activism.

The book tells the stories of two courageous and dedicated groups of queer activists in the city of Xi’an: a grassroots gay men’s HIV/AIDS organization called Tong’ai and a lesbian women’s group named UNITE. Taking inspiration from “the circle” (quanzi 圈子), a term used to imagine local, national, and global queer communities, the book shows how everyday people in northwest China are taking part in queer culture and activism while also striving to lead traditionally moral lives in a rapidly changing society.

The queer stories in this book broaden our understandings of gender and sexuality in contemporary China and show how taking global queer diversity seriously requires us to de-center Western cultural values, historical experiences, and theoretical perspectives.

Bio:

Casey James Miller is a cultural anthropologist and an assistant professor of anthropology in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His research has examined the intersections of gender, sexuality, health, and civil society in postsocialist urban China. His first book, Inside the Circle: Queer Culture and Activism in Northwest China, forthcoming from Rutgers University Press, is the first book to explore queer (tongzhi 同志) culture and activism in northwest China. Drawing on ethnographic data collected over a decade of fieldwork in urban northwest China from 2007–2019 involving over 70 people from local queer communities, civil society organizations, and government agencies, the book offers a novel, compelling, and intimately personal perspective on Chinese queer culture and activism. His other publications can be found on Medical Anthropology Quarterly and AIDS and Care: Psychological and Social-Medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV.