ABSTRACT
This introductory chapter explains the main concepts and fieldwork research methods that inform this book. An ethnographic vignette hinting at the heavily curtailed quality of queer social life in Singapore’s strongly heteronormative nation-state is followed by discussion of the idea of cultural and sexual citizenship (Ong 1996) that critically undergirds this study. The former is defined as extra-legal emotional bonds to one’s country, while the latter reminds us all that sexuality critically conditions our eligibility to participate in public life (Evans 1993). The methods used in the ethnographic study are described, and the remaining chapters of the book are outlined.
