Old, Queer, and Poor: Bad-Aging in Chinese-Speaking Worlds

This course examines cases of "bad aging" (aka "badass" aging) in the PRC, Taiwan, and Hong Kong through contemporary Chinese-language films and literature. We will explore the logic Chinese biopolitics that constructs "good" aging around longevity, hetero-happiness, and rigid geopolitical belonging. We will also examine how diverse forms of "bad" aging-especially for the queer, the disabled, the poor, and immigrants-can be understood as a resistance against the normative life trajectory. Students will approach old age as an intersectional analytical nexus that illuminates the operation of crisscrossing hierarchies in the Sinosphere and beyond.