Hunter writes from Bangkok where he is working on a second Master’s degree and is doing an internship in the summer of 2015.
Aside from this internship, I’m also keeping busy with my role as the Outreach and Recruitment Coordinator for my program which means that I help with internal/external communication strategies, production of promotional items, and forge partnerships with institutions and organizations in the region. I’ve finished my classes for the Master’s program, next step is the thesis proposal. I’m looking to conduct qualitative research that captures the narratives of transmen in Thailand to reveal, through their lived experiences, how they perceive and encounter trans-prejudice. Making use of narrative inquiry, I’ll analyze the Hunter Grayways in which some transmen may experience human rights violations (i.e.: violations to right to work, right to education, right to health) and then make recommendations on how to address these violations. I’m quite excited about this research as it builds off of my research from UMass while also add a new, richer dimension of narratives/lived experiences.
I’m also currently working on a couple of projects with local activists. Both are just fledgling projects - one is a workshop which I am coordinating with artists and activists here in Thailand to bridge the ways the arts can be used as activism; the other project is a very long-term goal of coordinating a Pink Dot Bangkok event modeled after Pink Dot Singapore The second project will be a huge undertaking and probably take 2-3 years to pull off, but it is exactly the reason why I moved here - to work with grassroots activists to address LGBT prejudice by way of positively changing public opinion of the LGBT community and to provide empowering and positive images of the LGBT community that enables greater acceptable, especially within the family. So far, I’ve got a small team of Thai activists that are really motivated to spear-head, contribute, and collaborate on this project. [6-15]
Email: hunter_s_gray@yahoo.com