Date of Award
2008
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Program
Anthropology
Supervisor
Dr. Regna Darnel
Second Advisor
Dr. James Miller
Third Advisor
Dr. Andrew Walsh
Abstract
This thesis examines the concepts of identity, community and belonging among gay and Queer Asian-Canadian men and women who live in the Greater Toronto Area. Most of these persons emigrated from East Asia with their families through the late 1970s to 1990s and subsequently came of age in Canada. I look at the ways in which ethnicity and sexuality converge in the life histories of these individuals through a range of topics that demonstrate how individuals conceptualize themselves and each other, as well as how social networks are formed and maintained. I argue that ethnic and sexual boundaries are not always static but are rather subject to negotiation and dialectical processes in various scenarios. These life experiences are often set in the context of heterocentric and white- privileged environments in the city that do not acknowledge the challenges faced by minority groups.
Recommended Citation
Yuen, Pamela S., "Being and Belonging: Identity and Community among Gay Asian-Canadians in Toronto" (2008). Digitized Theses. 4250.
https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/4250