An interactive experience that explores research
presented on Interracial Intimacies:
Sex and Race in Toronto, 1910 to 1950
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Introduction
Listen to Elise Chenier introduce her research and how this
research took form.
Master's Thesis
Master's Research on
Lesbian Bar Culture in
Toronto. 1993 - 1995.
Discover
Discovered the link between
lesbians, sex workers, and
men of Chinese Heritage.
Newspaper Articles started
the journey into the
research.
Click to view Newspaper Articles
Dora Nipp
Dora Nipp is a historian, lawyer,
ethnologist and an activist who I
knew of, but had never met
before. She very kindly put me
in touch with the right people.
Method
When beginning a project, go to the
experts. Usually this means reading
other historians who have written about
the subject. If you want to interview
people and you don't have a personal
connection to that community, you do
the same thing: you go to the experts.
You seek out people who are well
connected.
Oral historians develop skills in finding
people in the community and building
relationships of trust.
Alfie Yip
Oral History Interview
Click to view Transcript
Garfield Chan
Oral History Interview
Click to view Transcript
Valerie Mah
Oral History Interview
Click to view Transcript
Keith Lock
Tom Lock,
Chinatown
Pharmacist, as told
by his son,
filmmaker Keith
Lock
Multicultural History
Society of Ontario
interview with Keith
Lock
Doug Hum
Oral History Interview
Click to view Transcript
Steve Young
Steve Young describes one of
the Toronto Tongs and the
lives of men who lived there.
Click to view Transcript
Valerie Mah's Research
Valerie Mah researched and published two
pieces of work: The "Bachelor" Society and In
Depth Look at Chinatown
Research Assistants
Wondering if it might not be better to
hire an Asian male to get this story, I
offered a job doing interviews to
Bradley Lee and then to Kenneth Huynh.
Bradley Lee
Hired as a research assistant to
conduct interviews. The project
does not really speak to Brad's
interests, so he suggests
Kenneth Huynh as a research
assistant.
Ed Wong
Ed Wong recounts
the sex trade in
Chinatown
Ed Wong describes
being adopted to
interviewer
Click to view Transcript
Gilbert Chu and Ed Wong
Oral History Interview
Click to view Transcript
Kenneth Huynh
Recommended by Bradley Lee
and hired as a research
assistant to conduct interviews.
Alan Joe
Discrimination in Vancouver
and Toronto's Chinatowns
compared
Click to view Transcript
Alice Yeh
Alice's Story
Church As
Intra-Cultural Space
Discrimination in
Victoria and
Toronto Compared
Click to view Transcript
Method
This is the first time I have hired anyone to do my interviews for me. I did it for two reasons: I thought interviewees might be more open with another Asian man than they would be with me, a white woman; and I now live in Vancouver, BC, a very long way from Toronto. They both did a great job, but I've decided that I have to do the interviews myself. For me, oral history is never just about the topic itself. I never go in with a list of questions. I know what I am after, but I like to get a sense of the person and their experience, I like to have a conversation and let them tell me a little bit about what they want to tell me before probing around my topic. This is necessary especially when you are working on issues that are usually considered very private, such as sexuality. I also like to allow myself to be surprised by what I learn. As you will see, this project ended up being about a surprise, and not what I had originally set out to study.
Arlene Chan
Dora emails me to let me know
that Arlene Chan has a new
book coming out about
Toronto's Chinatown. I get in
touch with Arlene.
Mavis Chu
Arlene introduced me on to Mavis. That
would be the connection that would take
this project in a whole new direction
Interview with Mavis
She is the ideal interview subject. Her memory is a
steel trap. We talked about her family history, about
the sex workers that visited her family home to meet
with the bachelor men that rented rooms from them.
Click to view Transcript
Method
I knew enough about the history of the
Chinese in Canada to know that what she
was telling me was extraordinary. Thus far,
we understood that most Chinese men lived
as bachelors. What Mavis showed me was
just how incorrect this was. I knew right away
that this was a much more important topic.
My focus changed.
Mavis Family Album Video
Mavis describes her family album.
Mavis's Family Album
Click Images to view album
Newspapers
I hired two research assistants to look through
Toronto's tabloid newspapers for stories about
people of Chinese heritage, about white
women with Chinese men, and about sex work.
Click to view collection
Question
Why do you think
historians have
focused on the
anti-Chinese
testimony?
Royal Commission
I read the testimony to the 1885
Royal Commission and find this
testimony intriguing.
Conference
Presented at the International Conference of
Institutes and Libraries for Chinese Overseas Studies.
Click to view Presentation
Connection
About a year later Arlene gets in
touch and suggests I meet with
J. Rosenthal.
J. Rosenthal
Family Album
Click to view album
Velma Demerson
I get in touch with Velma Demerson, author
of Incorrigible. Velma's 2004 book
was big news at the time
it was published.
Click to view transcript
News Clipping
Velma gives me this news clipping.
Archival Sources
I hire a former grad student to
find out more about the News
clipping from Velma, and she hits
a gold mine.
Resources
I hire another grad student who
continues working on the project
when Anne has to leave Toronto.
Marriage Certificates
I hired Research Assistant, Anne Cummings,
to look at marriage certificates from the period. I
was thrilled to learn that marriage certificates
contain a lot of valuable information. From these
I was able to learn a lot about
the background of the
couples who married.
Click to view Marriage Certificates
Toronto Star,
Police Records
Click to view Police Records
Additional Resources
Many years ago I happened upon this
report and had used it as teaching
material at McGill. I dug it out of my
files -- finally! A use for it in my
research.
Click to view Report
Question
Why do you think the
census is so wrong? What
does that say about
government sources?
Are they reliable? More
reliable than oral
history?
Method
Link to Summary
Margaret LePage
Bachelors and Consent Girls
Writing
Write and complete first draft of the
article
Editor Reviews
Comments from the editor of the
special issue
Mavis Reviews
Mavis reads an early version, catches a
couple of errors, and decides she wants
to anonymize family names
Reviewer 1
Reviewer 1 submits comments
Reviewer 2
Reviewer 2 submits comments
Research
Read about 1,000 pages
on the history of emotion and affect
theory
Revise
Description of revision
Editor
Emails with editor, discussions about
language
Final Article
Final version submitted
Click to view Final Article