We Weren’t Born Yesterday is a series of four hour-long episodes focusing on the voices of GLBTIQ people from Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic and Hindi speaking backgrounds. Produced by the Queering the Air Collective at 3CR Community Radio, the series explores queer heritage, vocabulary and intergenerational connections in migrant communities in Australia.
The series was broadcast on 3CR Community Radio 855AM, 3CR Digital and streamed live through February 2015. We're happy to share the content we produce with other community radio stations for rebroadcast or GLBTIQ health and advocacy organisations for use as a resources, so please get in touch with 3CR if you’re interested. This project is financially supported by the Community Broadcasting Foundation. Thank you to Elena McMaster for technical assistance on all four episodes.
EPISODE ONE: This episode explores GLBTIQ heritage within the Vietnamese-Australian community. Your host, Thanh Hằng, presents to you Vietnamese queer literature, stories across generations of Vietnamese queer people, as well as a conversation with Chau Bao Tran, from the Multicultural Centre for Women's Health, on GLBTIQ community health.
Listen now - Vietnamese Australian (right click and download to save podcast)
EPISODE TWO: Lia Incognita looks at queer cultural heritage, intergenerational connections and GLBTIQ Mandarin vocabulary among the Chinese diaspora in Australia. Lia talks to artist, storyteller and queer Chinese-Australian elder William Yang about his art, life and the development of Chinese-Australian and Asian-Australian GLBTIQ spaces. Cinema studies scholars Olivia Khoo and Fran Martin chat about Chinese-language queer cinema, and the political impact it's had across Chinese-speaking areas. And Lia, Stephanie, Keren and Fran tell their stories, in Mandarin and English, of finding and creating language, community and power for 华人 同志 Chinese “comrades”. You’ll also hear music from Leslie Cheung, HOCC, Li Yuchun, Han Hong and Rainie Yang.
Listen now - Chinese Australian (right click and download to save podcast)
EPISODE THREE: This episode, produced by Nicki Russell and Jessie Richardson, explores evolving language and identities, representation in books and film, and family and community. You’ll hear from Fadia Abboud, writer and director of the award-winning web series, I LUV U BUT, and organiser of Club Arak. University of Sydney's Professor Sahar Amer discusses representation and language from 9th century Arabic and Islamicate texts through to today, and two individuals share their personal stories.
Listen now - Arabic Australian (right click and download to save podcast)
EPISODE FOUR: This episode, produced by Arjun, explores GLBTIQ heritage within the Indian-Australian community. He talks to seven queer Indian migrants and Australians of Indian origin about family, identity, sexuality and culture. You’ll hear excerpts from a range of intergenerational conversations about dating, coming out, love and faith, acceptance and rejection, freedom and fear, and conflict and reconciliation. Arjun says, “We talk about what culture means to us, and about familial expectations and making space for our love and relationships within our communities. We discuss our elders’ journeys and draw on our spiritual beliefs to make sense of it all.” You’ll also hear some pretty groovy music!
Listen now - Indian Australian
FEEDBACK
We'd now like to hear from you our listeners. What did you love, what didn't work, what could have been better? The survey should take less than 10 minutes and will help us with future projects. Do the survey here.