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LGBTQ+ Activism in the Post-2020s China: Activists’ Resilience in Difficult Times

Wang, Yueqi (2024) COSM40 20241
Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University
Abstract
Since 2020, the crackdown on LGBTQ+ activism in China has further intensified. This thesis applied semi-structured interviews, online observation, and autoethnography, combined with framing theory and queer resilience theory, to analyze Chinese LGBTQ+ activists’ perceptions of and responses to current challenges. This thesis found that activists attribute the difficulties they encounter to government oppression, internal community issues, and attacks from counter-movements. These challenges result in mental stress, moral dilemmas, and disenchantment with the movement. Despite facing these difficulties, activists demonstrate resilience. This thesis argued that this resilience is related to the characteristics of activists’ diagnostic... (More)
Since 2020, the crackdown on LGBTQ+ activism in China has further intensified. This thesis applied semi-structured interviews, online observation, and autoethnography, combined with framing theory and queer resilience theory, to analyze Chinese LGBTQ+ activists’ perceptions of and responses to current challenges. This thesis found that activists attribute the difficulties they encounter to government oppression, internal community issues, and attacks from counter-movements. These challenges result in mental stress, moral dilemmas, and disenchantment with the movement. Despite facing these difficulties, activists demonstrate resilience. This thesis argued that this resilience is related to the characteristics of activists’ diagnostic frameworks for their own situations, prognostic frameworks for coping strategies, and mobilization frameworks for future actions. Activists refuse to blame community members, prioritize solidarity, lower expectations for the future activism, adopt a pragmatic stance, reflect on past experiences, focus on present opportunities for action, embrace negative emotions, and emphasize the moral necessity of action. Additionally, the coping strategies they propose are inward-looking, seeing retreat as a way of making progress, which contributes to the self-care of activists and the maintenance of community vitality. This queer resilience is the driving force behind the sustainable development of China’s LGBTQ+ activism during difficult times. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Wang, Yueqi
supervisor
organization
course
COSM40 20241
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
LGBTQ+ activism, China, Queer, Activists, Resilience
language
English
id
9164641
date added to LUP
2024-06-17 13:49:22
date last changed
2024-06-17 13:49:22
@misc{9164641,
  abstract     = {{Since 2020, the crackdown on LGBTQ+ activism in China has further intensified. This thesis applied semi-structured interviews, online observation, and autoethnography, combined with framing theory and queer resilience theory, to analyze Chinese LGBTQ+ activists’ perceptions of and responses to current challenges. This thesis found that activists attribute the difficulties they encounter to government oppression, internal community issues, and attacks from counter-movements. These challenges result in mental stress, moral dilemmas, and disenchantment with the movement. Despite facing these difficulties, activists demonstrate resilience. This thesis argued that this resilience is related to the characteristics of activists’ diagnostic frameworks for their own situations, prognostic frameworks for coping strategies, and mobilization frameworks for future actions. Activists refuse to blame community members, prioritize solidarity, lower expectations for the future activism, adopt a pragmatic stance, reflect on past experiences, focus on present opportunities for action, embrace negative emotions, and emphasize the moral necessity of action. Additionally, the coping strategies they propose are inward-looking, seeing retreat as a way of making progress, which contributes to the self-care of activists and the maintenance of community vitality. This queer resilience is the driving force behind the sustainable development of China’s LGBTQ+ activism during difficult times.}},
  author       = {{Wang, Yueqi}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{LGBTQ+ Activism in the Post-2020s China: Activists’ Resilience in Difficult Times}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}