As part of the “Shattering the Single Story” series organized by Sri Vidya Uppalapati for APIDA Heritage Month, Associate Professor Joe Ponce will be guest facilitating a discussion focusing on intersections of APIDA (Asian Pacific Islander Desi American) and LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, +) identities on Saturday, January 23 at 3:00pm via Zoom.
The conversation will revolve around one short story and two personal essays:
- Rahul Mehta. “A Better Life." Quarantine, New York: Harper Perennial, 2011, pp. 173-214. [pdf]
- SJ Sindu. “Draupadi Walks Alone at Night.” Good Girls Marry Doctors: South Asian American Daughters on Obedience and Rebellion, edited by Piyali Bhattacharya, San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books, 2016, pp. 171-174. [pdf]
- Jing Jing Wang. “What It’s Like Coming Out as Queer in a Traditional Chinese Family.” The Stranger, 20 June 2018. [online]
These texts highlight, in particular, conflicts that arise between immigrant parents and their one-and-a-half/second-generation children regarding the influence of cultural and religious traditions on gender and sexual norms (Sindu), the pressures to succeed in normative terms (Mehta) and the difficulties of coming out (Wang).
To receive pdfs of the readings, email Associate Professor Joe Ponce (.8).
To attend, please register in advance. The event is free and open to the public. Everyone is welcome—even if you don’t get a chance to complete the reading or self-identify as LGBTQ+ and/or APIDA.
For more information about the “Shattering the Single Story” series, contact event organizer Sri Vidya Uppalapati (.5).
And be sure to check out the other events celebrating APIDA Heritage Month!
