Description
Book SynopsisIn Virtual Activism: Sexuality, the Internet, and a Social Movement in Singapore, cultural anthropologist Robert Phillips provides a detailed, yet accessible, ethnographic case study that looks at the changes in LGBT activism in Singapore in the period 1993-2019. Based on extensive fieldwork conducted with activist organizations and individuals, Phillips illustrates key theoretical ideas including illiberal pragmatics and neoliberal homonormativity that, in combination with the introduction of the Internet, have shaped the manner by which LGBT Singaporeans are framing and subsequently claiming rights.
Phillips argues that the activism engaged in by LGBT Singaporeans for governmental and societal recognition is in many respects virtual. His analysis documents how the actions of activists have resulted in some noteworthy changes in the lives of LGBT Singaporeans, but nothing as grand as some would have hoped, thus indexing the not quite aspect of the virtual. Yet, V
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements List of Figures Note on Terminology 1. Little Earthquakes 2. The “Spectral Homosexual” and the Singaporean Media 3. Reimagining of the Nation, Online 4. The Internet and A New Public Sphere 5. Pushing the Boundaries in the Physical World 6. The Illiberal Pragmatics of Activism 7. Epilogue Appendix 1 Timeline of Events Appendix 2 Updates on Activists Notes References Acknowledgments
