Working in the Global North

[S]tructures like a capitalist and exploitative nation-state will only see people…as just bodies that need to contribute to empowering those in control even further, no matter the cost

Creator:
Divine Reyes

An important aspect of Asian diasporic discussion within a capitalist system is the intersection of labour politics, gender, and racialization. For a long time, the provision of care-taker labour in Canada, whether in terms of medical care or domestic care, has been disproportionately shouldered by racialized women and femmes…particularly those with more complex migration histories because of the broader economic relationship between the Global North and the Global South characterized by one-sided exploitation. In Divine’s interview, her mother speaks about her experience creating and living and exercising agency within a predatory economic system and the difficulties that all of that entails. Have you noticed this kind of intersectional breakdown of care-taker labour around you?

Invisible Queerness

Being queer and Asian is “a very powerful identity.”

Creator:
Clover Lee (she/they)

Mainstream discussions around diversity and representation often revolve around culture/race/ethnicity; but it’s obvious that an intersectional approach is needed to better address and understand people’s experiences. What happens when race and queerness intersect? What kinds of experiences do they have that might be different from those who aren’t queer? In Clover’s paper, she explores the experiences of queer Asians in Vancouver to illustrate the power of such an intersectional identity, and also the challenges of embodying this intersectional identity while navigating an LGBTQIA+ space that is very White-centric, as well as domestic spaces that are very heteronormative. While it is challenging to have to navigate these spaces and deal with discrimination in multiple forms in numerous spaces, the people featured in Clover’s paper are resolute in their pride for their identity.

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