Thomas joined Macquarie University in 2017. He holds a PhD and a BA(Hons, first class) in Japanese Studies from Monash University. Thomas is a cultural anthropologist whose work has explored consumption of popular culture among queer communities in Japan, Mainland China, Thailand and the Philippines. He has a particular interest in the transnational spread of Japanese queer popular culture and its impacts on conceptualisations of gender and sexuality. He also investigates K-pop fandom in Japan and Australia. Thomas’s work is united by a commitment to digital research methods, ethnographic practice and the study of the lived experiences of media use in everyday life. Recently, he has begun exploring the nexus of East and Southeast Asian popular culture, especially the development of pan-Asian “idol” celebrity and related fan cultures. Thomas is fluent in English, Japanese and French. He has conversational Chinese and Korean.

Research

To date, Thomas' research has utilized the methodologies of cultural anthropology and has focused upon the transnational circulation of East Asian popular culture. Thomas has a keen interest in the representational politics of gender and sexuality in Asian media. His current projects include:

-the ethnographic study of the Japanese gay media landscape, focussing on:

• changing notions of gender and sexuality in neoliberal Japan
• the intersection of race and ethnicity with queer identity in Japan

-a study of the globalisation of queer Japanese popular culture, including:

• fandom for queer manga throughout the Asia-Pacific (with a focus on China and the Philippines )
• the development of "series wai" or "Thai Boys Love" media since 2014

-the study of Korean popular culture fandom in Japan and Australia, particularly focussing on:

• ethnographic study of K-pop fandom amongst queer individuals
• impacts of inter-Asian media flows on notions of Australianness among K-pop fans

More information about Thomas' research interests are available on his academic blog: http://thomasbaudinette.wordpress.com.

Teaching

Thomas teaches in the introductory stream of Japanese language, and teaches cultural studies and history units related to Japanese. Thomas is also involved in team-teaching related to research methodology and theory for post-graduate students both within the department and across the Faculty of Arts.

HDR Supervision

Thomas is available to supervise Japan-related research projects, particularly those which focus on social scientific methods. Thomas is also available to supervise Southeast Asian studies projects (particularly related to popular culture and gender/sexuality) and research on the Korean Wave.

Recent projects supervised to completion include:

"K-pop: Its Social and Spatial Influence on the Tokyo Cityscape” (Masters of Research, 2018, primary)

Service

Thomas is Secretary of the Society for Queer Asian Studies, an affiliate of the Association for Asian Studies.

Thomas is an Associate Member for the Centre for Media History at Macquarie University.

Thomas serves on the editorial board of the East Asian Journal of Popular Culture.