Editorial Introduction: Queer Asia as Method

Ge, Liang and Luther, J Daniel and Li, Eva Cheuk-Yin (2025) Editorial Introduction: Queer Asia as Method. Media, Culture and Society. ISSN 0163-4437

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Abstract

This introduction outlines the theoretical and methodological interventions proposed by the Crosscurrent special section, Queer Asia as Method, which interrogates the dynamic intersections of queer studies, Asian studies and critical media scholarship to challenge Eurocentric epistemologies and colonial frameworks. Emerging from scholarly dialogues initiated in 2021, this framework challenges the Euro-American dominance often found within queer studies by centring the intricate, fluid intersections of ‘queernesses’ and ‘Asias’. We argue for examining how media technologies and transnational cultural flows across diverse Asian contexts shape, circulate and contest queernesses and Asian-nesses, offering rich ground for epistemological and methodological innovation. Building upon the discourse of ‘Asia as Method’, this approach positions Asia not merely as a source of data but as a critical vantage point for decolonising knowledge production and interrogating established epistemes. The introduction highlights the significance of inter-Asian referencing, the role of media as both terrains of struggle and tools for generating transformative momentum. The collection also highlights the precarious labour of marginalised scholars navigating institutional erasure and geopolitical violence, framing ‘Queer Asia as Method’ as both an insurgent academic project and a call for interdisciplinary, anti-colonial solidarity. We frame the subsequent essays in the themed section, which critique the coloniality embedded in dominant queer studies from their situated queernesses in Asias, advocating instead for methods that foreground situational, transcolonial and embodied experiences, ranging from techno-Orientalism, and queer entrepreneurship in China to hybrid languages in Indian film, and pedagogical affects in Indonesia, demonstrating the polyvocality and critical potential of Queer Asia as Method.