Author, actor, and filmmaker Jean-Baptiste Phou presents two autobiographical works that address the presence and image of Cambodian/Asian men in the modern context, sexuality, and pressing questions of trauma, alienation, and survival. First, an excerpt from Phou’s stage adaptation of L’anarchiste, a novel by Cambodian author Soth Polin, will be screened. This novel was published in French in 1980 and follows a Cambodian taxi driver as he winds his way through the streets of Paris and shares his dark thoughts with a passenger. The screening will be followed by a reading from Phou’s recently translated memoir, Coming Out of My Skin (Seagull Books, 2023, trans. Edward Gauvin). This searing memoir focuses on the intersectionality of race and sexuality experienced by a gay Asian man living in a white world, and Phou examines the role his ethnic origin has played in the construction of his sexual identity and his romantic relationships in a predominantly white environment. How does a marginalized person develop emotionally and build, reclaim, and express their sexuality? Being gay in a largely straight world is difficult, but being Asian within this sexual minority can be a doubly oppressive experience. Coming Out of My Skin deftly tackles this challenge and aspires for a reconciliation that can empower people of sexual and racial minorities to joyfully inhabit their bodies. After the reading, Phou and Professor Karl Britto from the Departments of French and Comparative Literature will bring these two works into conversation to expand on their shared themes and provocations.

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