Thomas Baudinette
Senior Lecturer in International Studies, Macquarie University
What can Japanese Popular Culture and its Online Fandoms Teach Us About Society and Culture in Southeast Asia?
6 January 2022, 3:00 – 5:00 pm (Philippine Standard Time)
Within this workshop, I reflect on how my training in Japanese cultural studies has provided me with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct research into the evolution of queer sexuality in Southeast Asia, with a particular focus on Thailand and the Philippines. In so doing, I introduce the critical methodologies which underpin the emerging field of “fan studies” and discuss how to optimize the study of popular culture fandom to address key questions in Southeast Asian society and culture. An emphasis will be placed on considering the role of social media engagement among youth across Southeast Asia as a site to generate new knowledge, exploring how fandom for Japanese media and its local adaptations represent a powerful site to develop not just empirical insights but also sophisticated theoretical interventions. Underlying this workshop will be a focussed discussion of how we can pivot our focus on the critical analysis of Japanese media away from Japan itself or Japan-ASEAN international relations and instead re-emphasize questions pertinent to the study of Southeast Asia itself. I demonstrate that while sophisticated knowledge of Japanese popular media is required to chart these complicated transnational flows, “de-centering” Japan analytically to re-focus attention on the politics of reception in Southeast Asia is particularly generative of new approaches that will propel the broader discipline of Japanese Studies in innovative directions. Together, attendees will workshop proposals for studying the reception of Japanese media in Southeast Asia in a collaborative environment. Attendees working on interdisciplinary projects that challenge common-sense approaches to the study of Japan are especially encouraged to attend.
To participate in this masterclass
I’d like to ask applicants to the workshop to submit a 250 word research proposal addressing the theme of the workshop as well as a one page CV detailing position/affiliation, achievements to date, relevant publications etc.
MAXIMUM PARTICIPANTS: 10
Biography
Thomas Baudinette is Senior Lecturer in International Studies in the Department of Media, Communication, Creative Arts, Language and Literature, Macquarie University, Australia. A cultural anthropologist, his research focusses on Japanese queer media and its impacts on understandings of gender across East and Southeast Asia. His first book is Regimes of Desire: Young Gay Men, Media, and Masculinity in Tokyo (2021, University of Michigan Press). His current research investigates the transnational spread of “Boys Love” media fandom and celebrity, focussing on South Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines.
JSA-ASEAN 