Lecture: Queer of Color Critique(2020/12/25)

Professor Liu Wen (劉文)’s talk shed light on several topics surrounding queer of colour critique. Liu discussed the theoretical contexts pertaining to its rise, the ways it drew inspiration from black feminist thought and how it can be understood as a response to the white’s centrism of critical theory. In terms of its development, Liu traced it back to the 1969 Stonewall Riots and emphasized how queer of colour critique is linked to questions of state power. Whenever the main currents of LGBTQ movements demand more protective legislation, the ensuing increase of police violence created even more precarious and dangerous circumstances for queer and transsexual people of colour. Rather than being part of the mainstream LGBTQ movements, queer of colour critique is striving to fashion its own movement. Whereas general queer critique positions itself in constant opposition to the government, queer of colour critique is always oscillating between the in and out of the main stream, attempting to find their own place in the interplay of adapting and resisting.