Histories of Muslim-Arab Sexual Diversity: Between Homoerotic Practices, Homophobia and Homocolonialist Hegemony
In: Public AnthropologistSearch for other papers by Alessandra Persichetti in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
Based on decades of research conducted through life history narratives collected among Syrians, the article outlines the history of recent changes in male homosexual imaginaries and practices, identifying two historical-epistemological configurations: the first, in Syria, between 1970 and 2000, based on ‘fluid’ homoerotic practices, enacted in private and not categorized into homonormative frameworks; the second, in the diaspora in Turkey, shaped under the influence of Western homonormative discourse from 2000 to 2024. Only apparently opposed and similarly alienating for Arab-Muslim subjects, the models of privacy and coming out are shown to be both hybridized in concrete experience and potentially emancipatory, provided we abandon the dichotomous Orientalist view and evolutionary vision of lgbt human rights history ethnocentrically focused on secularization and individualism. Indeed, informants eschew the incommensurability of the two epistemologies and the vicious circles of the homocolonialist dialectic, instead maintaining “fluid spaces” in their everyday lives.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 218 | 218 | 48 |
| Full Text Views | 10 | 10 | 5 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 18 | 18 | 11 |
Histories of Muslim-Arab Sexual Diversity: Between Homoerotic Practices, Homophobia and Homocolonialist Hegemony
In: Public AnthropologistSearch for other papers by Alessandra Persichetti in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Based on decades of research conducted through life history narratives collected among Syrians, the article outlines the history of recent changes in male homosexual imaginaries and practices, identifying two historical-epistemological configurations: the first, in Syria, between 1970 and 2000, based on ‘fluid’ homoerotic practices, enacted in private and not categorized into homonormative frameworks; the second, in the diaspora in Turkey, shaped under the influence of Western homonormative discourse from 2000 to 2024. Only apparently opposed and similarly alienating for Arab-Muslim subjects, the models of privacy and coming out are shown to be both hybridized in concrete experience and potentially emancipatory, provided we abandon the dichotomous Orientalist view and evolutionary vision of lgbt human rights history ethnocentrically focused on secularization and individualism. Indeed, informants eschew the incommensurability of the two epistemologies and the vicious circles of the homocolonialist dialectic, instead maintaining “fluid spaces” in their everyday lives.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 218 | 218 | 48 |
| Full Text Views | 10 | 10 | 5 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 18 | 18 | 11 |
