Cui Le
Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Cult Health Sex. 2023 Apr;25(4):459-474. doi: 10.1080/13691058.2022.2053750. Epub 2022 Mar 25.
Drawing on interviews with 40 Chinese gay academics, this paper reveals participants' concerns about conducting queer research in China. These include sexual-identity exposure, difficulty in publishing research and receiving funding, as well as marginalisation within university departments. Informed by Irvine's conceptualisation of sexuality research as dirty work, this research examines the operation of heteronormativity in the constitution of queer research as dirty work. It shows that heteronormativity is intrinsic to research censorship by authorities, as repressive politics pursue regime maintenance and regulate difference. It is argued that Chinese academia is a heteronormative space in which queer research is constrained by the institutions and the Party-state. By teasing out the nuances in participants' experiences of research censorship, this paper highlights the complexity of power at play, which is far from a one-way relationship of authorities exerting power over researchers. Institutions exert power over queer researchers and simultaneously submit to the higher-level power of the Chinese Communist Party political system; at the same time, queer researchers who are governed by heteronormativity and political control can express their agency and resist the censorship.
基于对40位中国同性恋学者的访谈，本文揭示了参与者对在中国开展酷儿研究的担忧。这些担忧包括性身份暴露、研究成果发表及获得资金困难，以及在大学院系中被边缘化。受欧文将性取向研究概念化为“脏活”的启发，本研究考察了异性恋规范在将酷儿研究建构为“脏活”过程中的运作。研究表明，异性恋规范是当局进行研究审查的内在因素，因为镇压性政治旨在维护政权并规范差异。本文认为，中国学术界是一个异性恋规范的空间，酷儿研究受到机构和党国的限制。通过梳理参与者在研究审查经历中的细微差别，本文突出了权力运作的复杂性，这远非当局对研究者单向施加权力的关系。机构对酷儿研究者施加权力，同时又服从中国共产党政治体系的更高层级权力；与此同时，受异性恋规范和政治控制的酷儿研究者能够表达自己的能动性并抵制审查。
