New Books in LGBTQ+ Studies

Mejdulene Bernard Shomali, "Between Banat: Queer Arab Critique and Transnational Arab Archives" (Duke UP, 2023)

Mar 17, 2023

Mejdulene Bernard Shomali explores homoeroticism and non-normative sexualities in transnational Arab literature, art, and film. By using queer Arab critique, she challenges heteropatriarchy and Arab nationalisms while highlighting the importance of narrating queer Arab desire and identity. Shomali emphasizes the need for transnational collectivity to achieve queer freedom and disrupt Orientalist representations of Arab women.

47:54

Episode guests

Mejdulene Bernard Shomali

AI Summary

AI Chapters

Episode notes

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Queer Arab critique challenges heteronormative imperatives through queer desire exploration in transnational Arab art and literature.

Prioritizing transnational collectivity can lead to queer freedom by reframing queerness and Arabness as relational subject formations.

Deep dives

Exploring Queer Arab Identity Through Cultural Studies

The exploration of queer Arab identity through cultural studies reveals the complexity of representing communities. Mej Dulin's personal search for queer Arab representation led to a broader understanding of queerness beyond traditional labels. Queerness is viewed as a resistance to normativity, encompassing various forms of identity and resistance to patriarchal and heteronormative frameworks.

Introduction

2min

Exploring Queer Arab Representation and Feminine Subjectivity

22min

Exploring the Role of Feelings in Queer Representation and Knowledge Production

4min

Evolution of Queer Representation in Arab Cultural Forms

7min

Navigating the Complexity of Curating a Transnational Queer Archive

6min

Exploring Queerness in Arab Performance Spaces and Beauty in Palestine: Current and Future Projects

5min

In Between Banat: Queer Arab Critique and Transnational Arab Archives (Duke UP, 2023), Mejdulene Bernard Shomali examines homoeroticism and non-normative sexualities between Arab women in transnational Arab literature, art, and film.

Moving from The Thousand and One Nights and the Golden Era of Egyptian cinema to contemporary novels, autobiographical writing, and prints and graphic novels that imagine queer Arab futures, Shomali uses what she calls queer Arab critique to locate queer desire amid heteronormative imperatives. Showing how systems of heteropatriarchy and Arab nationalisms foreclose queer Arab women’s futures, she draws on the transliterated term “banat”—the Arabic word for girls—to refer to women, femmes, and nonbinary people who disrupt stereotypical and Orientalist representations of the “Arab woman.” By attending to Arab women’s narration of desire and identity, queer Arab critique substantiates queer Arab histories while challenging Orientalist and Arab national paradigms that erase queer subjects. In this way, Shomali frames queerness and Arabness as relational and transnational subject formations and contends that prioritizing transnational collectivity over politics of authenticity, respectability, and inclusion can help lead toward queer freedom.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/lgbtq-studies