Queer(ing) indigeneity and the Igorot lesbians of Hong Kong

This chapter focuses on lesbian domestic workers in Hong Kong who identify as Igorot or the collective identity of Indigenous peoples in the Cordillera Region of the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It focuses on two case studies of these Indigenous migrants to illustrate the bodily negotiations/contortions that happen as traditional Indigenous gendered social institutions continue to influence the assertion/representation of their indigeneity and queerness within their migrant pageants and grassroots organisations. Despite the policing of their bodies from fellow Igorot migrants, this chapter describes how Igorot lesbians re-inscribe indigeneity and queerness by sustaining elder authority while subverting heteronormativity through the overperformance of their masculinity.