Lark Chang-Yeh L&S Social Sciences
Queer Diaspora: AAPI Ballroom Community Formation
This research project will study the formation of Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) ballroom communities and drag troupes in the San Francisco Bay Area and how these groups navigate issues of race, class, and cultural appropriation within a predominantly Black cultural framework and history. Ballroom is a historically LGBTQ Black and Latine cultural practice in which individuals compete in events known as “balls” in various realness categories. These performances are a site of self-actualization, liberation, and reclamation of gender from hegemonic culture. My primary research question is: How have AAPI ballroom and drag communities in the San Francisco Bay Area drawn inspiration from the historical and cultural performance practices (looking into the gender system, house system, terminologies and dialects, practices, etc) of Black ballroom culture, and what elements have they adapted to reflect their own racial and cultural identities? Specifically, I will focus on how these AAPI communities adapt their performances of gender, as well as the ballroom “gender system,” to fit their cultural and racial identities.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you so much for sponsoring my research project this summer on Asian American Ballroom Community Formation. This opportunity has allowed me to focus on developing my research interests in depth and has given me clarity and direction on wanting to pursue graduate studies after I finish my time at UC Berkeley. There is a large gap in queer studies at the intersection with Asian American studies, and my work on AAPI Ballroom Community formation in the SF Bay Area will be the first of its kind! This summer has given me the time and space to develop a thorough methodology and literature review to propel this project forward over the next year in my senior thesis.