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Deviants, Queers, or Scissoring Sisters of Men?: Translating and Locating Queer and Trans Feminisms in the Contemporary Arabic-Speaking World

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The Palgrave Handbook of Queer and Trans Feminisms in Contemporary Performance

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of LGBTQ+ organizations and movements in the Arabic-speaking world, as well as central themes and debates, including different strategies taken in translating terminology and developing a vocabulary to speak about nonnormative sex, gender, and identification in Arabic. Treating translation as performance, emphasizing the political impact of terminology, and viewing queer and trans activism through a performative lens, the chapter brings clarity to the controversy about increased queer visibility and the proliferation of LGBTQ+ rights discourse in the Arabic-speaking world.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In this chapter, I use the term “Arab world,” as opposed to, for example, “Middle East.” This is to avoid eurocentrism and the orientalist history of the term, although that is not to say that “Arab world” is without issues, not least because the countries and contexts which this chapter covers also include people who do not identify as “Arab.” That said, emphasis is placed on queer terminology in Arabic and translations into Arabic, that is why the terms “Arab world” and “Arabic-speaking” are used, except in quotes and titles where “Middle East” is used.

  2. 2.

    ABC News/AFP, “No gays in Iran: Ahmadinejad” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2007-09-25/no-gays-in-iran-ahmadinejad/679604. Accessed 7 May 2020.

  3. 3.

    The website of Aswat can be accessed here: https://www.aswatgroup.org/aswat. Accessed 21 June 2020.

  4. 4.

    The website of IraQueer can be accessed here: https://www.iraqueer.org/about.html. Accessed 22 June 2020.

  5. 5.

    The address, and other activities of IraQueer, can be found here: https://www.iraqueer.org/meetings-and-statements.html. Accessed 22 June 2020

  6. 6.

    Interview found here: http://www.feministyaklasimlar.org/en/issue-15-october-2011/reflections-on-queerness-in-the-arab-world/. Accessed 16 April 2020.

  7. 7.

    Website accessed through web cache: https://web.archive.org/web/20150328160845/http://www.pqbds.com/about/. Accessed 16 April 2020.

  8. 8.

    https://www.pinkwatchingisrael.com/about-us/. Accessed 16 April 2020.

  9. 9.

    https://kersplebedeb.com/posts/arab-queers-say-no-to-pinkwashing-at-the-ussf/. Accessed 16 April 2020.

  10. 10.

    The case can be read about here: https://euromedrights.org/publication/egypt-closure-office-nazra-feminist-studies/. Accessed 22 May 2020.

  11. 11.

    The post can be found here: http://arebelsdiary.blogspot.com/2011/10/nude-art_2515.html. Accessed 20 April 2020.

  12. 12.

    Interview can be seen here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AMaryam_Namazie_interviews_Aliaa_Elmahdy_and_Amina_Sboui_(Tyler)_VP8.webm. Accessed 20 April 2020.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Joel W. Abdelmoez

  2. Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Joel W. Abdelmoez

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  1. Joel W. Abdelmoez
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Correspondence to Joel W. Abdelmoez .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Tiina Rosenberg

  2. Faculty of Arts, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Sandra D'Urso

  3. University of California Humanities Research Institute, Irvine, CA, USA

    Anna Renée Winget

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Abdelmoez, J.W. (2021). Deviants, Queers, or Scissoring Sisters of Men?: Translating and Locating Queer and Trans Feminisms in the Contemporary Arabic-Speaking World. In: Rosenberg, T., D'Urso, S., Winget, A.R. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Queer and Trans Feminisms in Contemporary Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-69555-2_16

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