Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand why the old poets of China went so far
and high into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture | A Public Lecture

Details
The UP Asian Center will hold the public lecture, Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture on 14 June 2024 at the Seminar Room, UP Asian Center, and via Zoom (hybrid). The event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Walk-ins are welcome, but participants are encouraged to register online.
I WILL ATTEND ONLINE (via ZOOM)

ABOUT THE LECTURE

In this presentation, Thomas Baudinette introduces his research into Thailand's "Boys Love" media industry by reflecting on a decade of ethnographic observations of this popular culture form's celebrity production systems and transnational fandoms. Arguing that Thai BL represents an important example of queer emancipatory media that has garnered legions of dedicated fans across the globe, Baudinette explores what the rise of Thai BL can teach us about celebrity and fandom culture from an Asian perspective. Baudinette concludes by considering how the book challenges Western-centric theories of queer media and advocates for an appreciation for Asia's central positioning within new global regimes of queer knowledge production.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

THOMAS BAUDINETTE, PH.D.
Senior Lecturer, Macquarie University
Dr. Thomas Baudinette is a Senior Lecturer in International Studies at Macquarie University, Australia. A cultural anthropologist, his research explores the role popular culture plays in shaping knowledge about gender and sexuality across East and Southeast Asia. His first book is Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media, and Masculinity in Tokyo (University of Michigan Press, 2021). His second book is Boys Love Media in Thailand: Celebrity, Fans, and Transnational Asian Queer Popular Culture(Bloomsbury, 2023). He recently completed the Academy of Korean Studies funded project “Exploring K-pop Fandom as a Space for LGBT Support in the Asia-Pacific” (AKS-2022-R033). Thomas is currently working on his third book, tentatively titled Queer Fantasies of Asia: Japanese and Korean Media Fandom in the Philippines.

ABOUT THE REACTOR

LOUIE JON A. SÁNCHEZ
College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines Diliman
Louie Jon A. Sánchez is an Associate Professor of Broadcast Communication at the College of Mass Communication, University of the Philippines Diliman. He is a prize-winning poet, literary and cultural critic, media historian, and translator. He is the author of Abangán: Mga Pambungad sa Resepsiyon sa Kultura ng Teleserye (Watch for it: Introductory Receptions on Teleserye Culture, UST Publishing House, 2022) and Ang Drama ng Ating Búhay: Isang Kultural na Kasaysayan ng Teleserye (The Drama of Our Lives: A Cultural History of the Teleserye, DLSU Publishing House, 2024).
For inquiries, please contact us at  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 891-8500 loc. 3586.
The Asian Center, University of the Philippines Diliman offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The UP Asian Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. It also offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. As an area studies institution, the Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website.