MPhil/PhD in Gender The Voices of Indigenous Queer Subjects in Taiwan: A Focus on Decolonial and Intersectional Queer Activism

This PhD project aims to study indigenous queer subjects in Taiwan, discussing the struggles of indigenous queer peoples and how grassroots queer activists develop intersectional strategies to advocate for indigenous queer people's rights. This research uses qualitative research methods including ethnographic research, participant observation, and structured interviews of indigenous queer activists, organisations and events. For secondary data collection, this research would analyse queer literature, music, and social media to understand their articulation of indigenous queerness.
This project aims to fill the research gap between Gender and Sexuality studies in Taiwan through the lens of race and ethnicity and to analyse indigenous queer activism with a focus on the decolonial and intersectional aspects. Indigenous queer peoples' requests for both indigenous and LGBTQ+ rights require the LGBTQ+ rights movement to work on indigenous justice to seek transformative change.
Through this project, I wish to explore what decolonisation looks like in the context of Chinese settler colonialism, and what ways queer activism partakes in the decolonising process: How do indigenous queer subjects and activists in Taiwan weave in indigeneity and queer self-making in the context of Chinese settler colonialism, and how is Taiwan's case different from White settler colonialism? What is the influence of intersectionality and Black feminism in indigenous queer activism; how is it applicable and how is it different in Taiwan?