A queer feminist anthropologist exploring the realities of culture, gender, and sexuality in contemporary Asia
I can barely believe this is true!! I had hardly dared hope this would really happen, but Aung San Suu Kyi has won a huge majority in Burma's elections held last Sunday. Election commission says National League for Democracy has won staggering majority in parliament, ending decades of military dominance Announcements of the results have [...]
In April this year, my wonderful mother came to visit me in Beijing. She hadn’t taken an international trip alone for a few years. Well, she hadn’t left Europe alone for something like 30 years. (Having kids changes things like that, I would think.) So she boarded a plane from Norwich to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to [...]
At five past three (China time) today, I saw some fantastic news, via the Guardian's breaking news app: Myanmar elections: ruling party concedes defeat to Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party This was the best news I could possibly imagine. I shared it. But I knew it was too good, or at least too fast, [...]
I walked in, said ‘tailor?’ and ‘longyi’ – the women sitting on the floor looked at me in puzzlement for a few minutes. Then one stood to show me her longyi; it took a few attempts before I realised the style of her mauve longyi was in fact an improvement on the normal style – [...]
‘Things will only change if she wins. If they let her in, there will be changes. If not, things will be stable.’ Pausing at a busy junction in downtown Yangon as I wait to cross, a heavy bag on my back, an older Burmese woman mutters under her breath telling me it is safe to [...]
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is one of my favourite authors. She's certainly my favourite African author and I believe she is the best female writer of our time. Her fiction is poetic and hugely powerful. She weaves enchanting and wonderfully moving stories about the reality of Nigerian life. Adichie was named one of the twenty most important fiction writers [...]
The very fact that it is non-essential for the majority of people is possibly the most powerful element of modern marriage. Rather than becoming insignificant, it possibly means more than it once did, purely because it is so heavily reliant on individual choice.
As a foreigner, how do you deal with getting stared at 24/7?
My policy is – no matter how hungry, tired, alienated or desperate to find a proper toilet I might be feeling – smile! Especially when you’re on camera.
Daily life in China can be strange, infuriating, illogical and altogether baffling. “Oh, China!” is sometimes the only thing that can be said.
The ephemeral world of Pilobolus: Shadowland in London In Shadowland, Pilobolus create a vast and varied imaginative landscape, through which we follow a young girl on the brink of growing up. On a rare visit to London, this American dance theatre group stunned audiences at the Peacock Theatre on their opening nights earlier this week. [...]
Zhēn de Gender 