Queering Multiculturalism

Queering Multiculturalism argues for group-specific rights for ethno-cultural minorities, but without ignoring that such rights may lead to ethnic chauvinism, balkanization, and the cultural marginalization of minorities-within-minorities, such as ethnic LGBT people. Thus, it aims to construct a liberal theory of minority rights to accommodate ethno-cultural diversity without destroying ethno-sexual diversity, and without privileging one type of minority group over another.

Queer Returns returns us to the scene of multiculturalism, diaspora, and queer through the lens of Black expression, identity, and the political. The essays question what it means to live in a multicultural society, how diaspora impacts identity and culture, and how the categories of queer and Black and Black queer complicate the political claims of multiculturalism, diaspora, and queer politics. These essays return us to foundational assumptions, claims, and positions that require new questions without dogmatic answers.

In Queer Multicultural Social Justice Education: Curriculum (and Identity) Development Through Performance, I take a pragmatic approach sharing my intimate journey, my stories, and myself with you—the reader—as I actively perform and model the development of queer explorations (i.e., lessons) and curriculum. I begin this journey with three accessible histories of multicultural education, queer perspectives, and autoethnography, respectively. These easy-to-navigate stories provide you with important background knowledge, highlighting the evolution of, commonalities between, and need for each discipline, along with their connection to identity and identity awareness as a form of social justice practice and advancement. Next, I share and perform the nine explorations developed for this project, collectively titled Queer Explorations of Identity Awareness. Modeling for you in practical terms how to queer curriculum and its development, I openly examine my raw performances, discuss my personal and analytical reflections, and embrace my own personal experiences and revelations that occurred throughout this project. Finally, I close with a creative, reflective, and story-like analysis of the process that includes a call to action from you to share your stories as a way of knowing yourself—and others—as a form of social justice education and advancement. This book is intended for all formal and informal educators interested in performing and developing queer multicultural social justice curriculum and practices. Inspired by Ayers (2006), I invite you on this “voyage” with “hope and urgency” (p. 83). It is time we share our stories as a form of curriculum, activism, and coming together.

Queer Returns returns us to the scene of multiculturalism, diaspora and queer through the lens of black expression, identity and the political. The essays question what it means to live in a multicultural society, how diaspora impacts identity and culture and how the categories of queer and black and black queer complicate the political claims of multiculturalism, diaspora and queer politics. These essays return us to foundational assumptions, claims and positions that require new questions without dogmatic answers.

Examining the intersections of race, culture, gender, and sexuality, Multicultural Queer: Australian Narratives explores the lives of non-Anglo homosexuals in Australia and the difficulties they encounter establishing themselves in gay and lesbian communities. Through academic analyses, creative genres, and personal narratives, this book describes how lesbians and gay men of ethnic minorities negotiate their sexuality amidst dual cultural forces. Multicultural Queer will help you learn about and understand the challenges that gay and lesbian ethnic minorities face within a Western culture. Discussing the experiences of individuals who have double or triple minority statuses--as gay people, as members of ethnic minorities, and/or as women--this book investigates racial stereotypes and the Australian gay “ideal.” From Multicultural Queer, you will learn why many gay men of Asian ancestry feel sexually unattractive, develop certain habits to make themselves more acceptable to peers, and how they struggle to make sense of negative social experiences. Multicultural Queer contains research and first-hand accounts that give you insight into current efforts to explain and combat the exclusion of minorities, such as: the relationship between race and sexuality issues related to self-esteem of gay Asian men as determined by their identification with Asian and/or gay communities common cinematic tropes and theoretical discourses used to depict and define Asians as mostly heterosexual or sexually deviant because of their ethnicity how anti-Semitism and racism are reflected in lesbian communities and how they relate to issues of privilege, invisibility, and exclusion dilemmas, concerns, and strategies for integrating multiculturalism and multisexuality in educational institutions to combat homophobia Providing a background on immigration to Australia, multiculturism policies, and general facts about the country, Multicultural Queer offers you a complete look at the diversity of Australian society. This insight will help you understand the feelings, stereotypes, and attitudes toward ethnic and sexual minorities and how they deal with their sexual and ethnic multiplicity.

Invisible. Unheard. Alone. Chilling words but apt to describe the isolation and alienation of queer youth. No longer. 'Revolutionary Voices' celebrates the hues and harmonies of the future of the gay and lesbian society, presenting not just a collection of stories but a collection of experiences, ideas, dreams and fantasies that demand not only to be heard but to be recognised as a critical component in a future society where it is hoped all members will be valued.

Sad and funny, sexy and sensitive, angry and insightful: the deeply personal stories in this book reflect a rainbow of experiences and emotions, as diverse as the storytellers themselves. Join chief editor Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli and the Australian LGBTIQ Multicultural Council for a journey of discovery through queer multicultural multifaith Australia, with more than sixty voices from across the spectrum of sexualities and genders, families and relationships. Annette Xiberras, lesbian Wurundjeri Elder with a Maltese father, provides a Welcome to Book and insights into her Indigenous-migrant family. Filmmakers Tony Ayres and Franco Di Chiera share their experiences telling stories from minority cultures on Australian screens, while Benjamin Law talks queer Asian-Australian identity, and making The Family Law for SBS. Broadcaster Faustina Agolley talks about being 'out' as a woman of colour, and Anton Enus tells us about coming out as a 'coloured' gay man in South Africa. Entertainer Paul Capsis reflects on doing Cabaret in the age of Trump while Asiel Adan talks about non-binary gender across the US border in Mexico. Meanwhile, Christos Tsiolkas imagines Ari, the protagonist of his iconic novel Loaded, now middle-aged, during a weekend of mass violence in distant Paris, while Patrick Abboud travels the world so he can come home. Alyena Mohummadally searches for reconciliation between her queer and Muslim identities and Tony Briffa shares a personal story of growing up with intersex variations and the rigidity of Western medicine. Contributors are Patrick Abboud, Doron Abramovici, Asiel Adan, Faustina Agolley, Mama Alto, Elvira Andreoli, Gavriel Ansara, Tony Ayres, Ayman Barbaresco, Jonathan Barnett, Michael Barnett, Roz Bellamy, Maria Bololia, Tony Briffa, Hinde Ena Burstin, Paul Capsis, Carolina, Paula Carpio, Shanton Chang, Joseph Carmel Chetcuti, Margherita Coppolino, Franco Di Chiera, Anton Enus, Cristian Cortes Garzon, Sally Goldner, Carl Gopalkrishnan, Anne Harris, Dino Hodge - Konstantino Hadjikakou, Peggy Iu, Rida Khan, Azja Kulpinska, Benjamin Law, Anthony Lekkas, Mei Tze Ling, Lian Low, Alan Maurice, Adam Messede, Jack Migdalek, Alyena Mohummadally, Tony Mordini, Nonno and Aroosa, Olivia Noto, Benjamin Oh, Gary Paramanathan, Vic Perri, Corey Rabaut, Raven, Adam Ridwan, Naya Rizwan, Wil Roach, Omar Sakr, Michael Schembri, Budi Sudarto, Reem Sweid, Judy Tang, Christos Tsiolkas, John Tzimas, Paul Venzo, Sim Victor, Annette Xiberras, Nevo Zisin