The Queer ‘Gaijin’ Drag Performer

Beyond Hegemonic Discourses

Abstract

Queer migrants in Japan face a multitude of challenges such as exclusion and prejudice, including heterosexism, cisgender norms, xenophobia, and heterosexual norms stemming from hegemonic discourses and power structures. This paper delves into the ways in which queer migrants utilize drag performances to subvert and challenge these dominant discourses. Specifically, it focuses on the experiences of Labianna Joroe, a queer migrant Japanese-Brazilian drag performer, and phenomenologically interprets how she challenges and attempts to change norms related to race and gender. Labianna is uniquely positioned as an outsider --a ‘gaijin’ and a sexual minority-- and an insider--a Japanese-Brazilian/nikkei. Her drag performances play with recurring gender roles and transform them into art, carrying a self-assertive and social meaning. By observing and critiquing Japanese society as an outsider, while still having access to dominant institutions as an insider, she is able to shed light on the powerful and resilient political strategies that are emerging within drag. This is evident in the growing influence of RuPaul's Drag Race（RPDR）, a television program showcasing LGBT+ culture and drag, as well as in the reappropriation of drag within powerful queer migrant communities. These examples demonstrate how drag can be a political and creative means of mimicking and deconstructing identity, including gender and race, while also advancing social change through practice.