Imagining Canada through Heated Rivalry: a queer of colour perspective (WIHIC)
Imagining Canada through Heated Rivalry: a queer of colour perspective
Wednesday March 11, 2026,1:00 – 2:00 pm EST |
Speaker: Dr. John Paul (JP) Catungal, Assistant Professor, Social Justice Institute, University of British Columbia
Description
In this talk, I examine the ascendance of the TV series Heated Rivalry (HR) into a global phenomenon. I focus in particular on the work that Canadian national imaginaries do within the show’s internal universe and through its circulation in popular media and public discourse. I argue that the relatively easy integration of HR into national mythmaking needs to be understood within the longer history of the use of queerness for Canadian geopolitical self-positioning. Such homonationalist integration has limits, ones that can be gleaned from the show’s own narrative, if one looks closely. Engaging a queer of colour perspective, I highlight how Heated Rivalry‘s narrative socio-spatialities – especially the ice, the cottage and the international stage – shine light on key racial, gendered and sexual anxieties that haunt the making of Canada as a nation.
This talk will be moderated by Minelle Mahtani, Associate Professor and Chair of Canadian Studies at the University of British Columbia.
Speaker biography
Dr. John Paul (JP) Catungal (he/him) is Co-Director of the Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement and Assistant Professor in Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia. His scholarship generally concerns the community organizing and cultural production efforts of migrant, racialized and LGBTQ+ communities He has been especially active in the development of Filipinx Canadian studies: he co-edited Filipinos in Canada: Disturbing Invisibility (2012, University of Toronto) and the latest BC Studies special issue titled “Filipino Canadian studies in, on and through British Columbia”. He is also designer and author of the Heated Rivalry syllabus, . He received the UBC Killam Teaching Prize in 2025.
This “What is Happening in Canada?” event is a collaboration with the UBC Centre for Asian Canadian Research and Engagement and the UBC Canadian Studies Program.
