Producing 'South Asian MSM'

This project draws upon five and a half years of research and writing focused on ‘South Asian MSM’ — a concept in HIV Prevention that I refused to take for granted as soon as I encountered it. As I argue in this thesis, the conceptualisation of South Asian MSM relies on and perpetuates a narrow frame of reference of gender, race, sexuality and culture which links back to racist and colonial discourses. I approach this dissertation methodologically as an analysis of a range of ‘texts’ which produce the figure of the South Asian MSM, following the technique of ‘close readings’ to question and interrupt texts to make them questionable. In order to produce the data or ‘texts’ for this project, I carried out nonstandardised interviews, engaged in conversations, made observations and collected audiovisual materials. I see this work as a feminist project, using feminist materials to attempt to produce ethical and accessible scholarship. I initiate this project following the deeply personal mode of academic writing propelled by queer feminists of colour in order to challenge the authority of the western political subject and to contribute to broader goals of decolonisation and disability justice.