“I’m just aware they’re labels”
Researching Western Buddhist Practices of Gender and Sexual Identification
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v7i2.179Keywords:
Buddhist, identity, LGBTQI, minority, queerAbstract
This article discusses fieldwork in two research projects on Buddhists in London. It explores issues involved in researching lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and/or intersex (LGBTQI) Buddhists. It also considers issues around heterosexual identities in Buddhist communi-ties. In researching dynamics of gender and sexual identification of participants it was observed that at times participant narratives treated these identities for these axes of difference as provisional and contingent rather than essential, fixed and a basis for socio-political organization. This contrasts with much of the work on religion and sexuality in mainstream theistic traditions, where their LGBTQI members often argue a “reverse discourse” asserting their place in a “Divine Order” in which their sexual/gender identity is a key part of “who they are.” It is argued that theoretical approaches based on queer theorizing could be particularly applicable to research on Western Buddhist perspectives on gender and sexual identities. This is attributed to the anti-essentialist approach Buddhism takes to questions of subjectivity and identification and its non-hegemonic status in the West. Such queer theorizing would, however, need to acknowledge the constraints to “border crossings” between identity positions arising from oppressive forces from gender minoritization, class status, minority ethnic origin, and so on. It is also suggested that research on the heterosexual majority can elucidate ways in which faith communities are gendered, racialized and stratified by class.
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References
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Bluck, R. 2006. British Buddhism: Teachings, Practice and Development. London and New York: Routledge.
Brah, A. 1996. “Difference, Diversity, Differentiation,” in A. Brah, ed., Cartographies of Diaspora: Contesting Identities. London: Routledge, 95–127.
Brah, A., and A. Phoenix. 2004. “Ain’t I a Woman? Revisiting Intersectionality,” Journal of International Women’s Studies, 5.3, 75–86, http://www.bridgew.edu/soas/jiws/May04/Phoenix_Brah.pdf (accessed 4 September 2010).
Browne, K. 2008. “Selling My Queer Soul or Queerying Quantitative Research?,” Sociological Research Online, 13.1, http://www.socresonline.org.uk/13/1/11.html (accessed 4 September 2010).
Browne, K. 2010. “Queer Quantification or Queer(y)ing Quantification: Creating Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Heterosexual Citizens through Governmental Social Research,” in K. Browne and C. J. Nash, eds. Queer Methods and Methodologies: Intersecting Queer Theories and Social Science Research. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 231–49.
Browne, K., S. R. Munt and A. K. T. Yip, eds. 2010. Queer Spiritual Spaces: Sexuality and Sacred Places. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Browne, K., and C. J. Nash, eds. 2010. Queer Methods and Methodologies: Intersecting Queer Theories and Social Science Research. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Foucault, M. 1978. The History of Sexuality, trans. R. Hurley, Vol. 1. London: Penguin Books.
Foucault, M. 1980. “Two Lectures,” in C. Gordon, ed., Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings by Michel Foucault. Brighton: Harvester Press, 78–108.
Foucault, M. 1984. The History of Sexuality, trans. R. Hurley, Vol. 2. London: Penguin Books.
Foucault, M. 1997. “The Ethics of the Concern for Self as a Practice of Freedom,” in P. Rabinow, ed., Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth. New York: New Press, 281–301.
FWBO-Files, The. 1999. http://www.fwbo-files.com/ (accessed 14 July 2008).
Giddens, A. 1991. Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Halperin, D. 1995. Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography. New York: Oxford University Press.
Haraway, D. J. 1991. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective,” in D. J. Haraway, ed., Simians, Cyborgs and Women: the Reinvention of Nature. London: Free Association Books, 183–201.
Harding, S., ed. 2004. The Feminist Standpoint Theory Reader: Intellectual and Political Controversies. New York and London: Routledge.
Hockey, J., A. Meah and V. Robinson. 2007. Mundane Heterosexualities: From Theory to Practices. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/9780230596948
Hori, G. V. S. 1994. “Sweet-and-Sour Buddhism,” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, 4.1, 48–52.
Kennedy, P. 2007. “Man-Made Monk,” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, 16.2, 60–65.
McIntosh, M. 1993. “Queer Theory and the War of the Sexes,” in J. Bristow and A. R. Wilson, eds. Activating Theory: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Politics. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 30–52.
Office for National Statistics. 2001. Focus on Religion: Geographic Distribution – Minority religions mainly in London, http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=956 (accessed 28 November 2007).
Riessman, C. K. 2001. “Analysis of Personal Narratives,” in J. F. Gubrium and J. A. Holstein, eds. Handbook of Interview Research: Context & Method. London: Sage Publications, 695–707. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412973588.d40
Riessman, C. K. 2004. “Narrative Analysis,” in M. S. Lewis-Beck, A. Bryman and T. Futing Liao, eds. The Sage Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. London: Sage Publications, Vol. 2: 705–709. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412950589.n611
Rose, J. K. 2007. “Transgender Bias,” Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, 17.3, 9. http://www.tricycle.com/letters/letters-editor-fall-2007 (accessed 7 September 2012).
Seale, C. 1999. The Quality of Qualitative Research. London: Sage Publications.
Skeggs, B. 1997. Formations of Class and Gender: Becoming Respectable. London: Sage.
Skeggs, B. 2004. Class, Self, Culture. London and New York: Routledge.
Smith, S. 2008. “Buddhism, Diversity and ‘Race’: Multiculturalism and Western convert Buddhist Movements in East London – a Qualitative Study.” PhD dissertation, London: Goldsmiths, University of London.
Subhuti. 1988. Buddhism for Today: A Portrait of a New Buddhist Movement. Glasgow: Windhorse Publications.
Taylor, Y. 2010. “The ‘Outness’ of Queer: Class and Sexual Intersections,” in K. Browne and C. J. Nash, eds. Queer Methods and Methodologies: Intersecting Queer Theories and Social Science Research. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 69–83.
Tweed, T. A. 1992. The American Encounter with Buddhism 1844–1912: Victorian Culture and the Limits of Dissent. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press.
Waterhouse, H. 1999. “Who Says So? Legitimacy and Authenticity in British Buddhism,” Scottish Journal of Religious Studies, 20.1, 19–36.
Weeks, J. 2007. The World We Have Won: The Remaking of Erotic and Intimate Life. London: Routledge.
Wright, S., and N. Nelson. 1995. “Participatory Research and Participant Observation: Two Incompatible Approaches,” in N. Nelson and S. Wright, eds. Power and Participatory Development: Theory and Practice. London: Intermediate Technology Publications, 43–59.
Yip, A. K. T. 2010. “Coming Home from the Wilderness: An Overview of Recent Scholarly Research on LGBTQI Religiosity/Spirituality in the West,” in K. Browne, S. R. Munt and A. K. T. Yip, eds. Queer Spiritual Spaces: Sexuality and Sacred Spaces. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 35–50.
Yip, A. K. T., with S. Smith. 2010. “Queerness and Sangha: Exploring Buddhist Lives,” in K. Browne, S. R. Munt and A. K. T. Yip, eds. Queer Spiritual Spaces: Sexuality and Sacred Places. Farnham, Surrey and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 111–38.
Published
2013-03-22
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Smith, S. (2013). “I’m just aware they’re labels”: Researching Western Buddhist Practices of Gender and Sexual Identification. Fieldwork in Religion, 7(2), 179–193. https://doi.org/10.1558/firn.v7i2.179
