Mejdulene Bernard Shomali, "Between Banat: Queer Arab Critique and Transnational Arab Archives" (Duke UP, 2023)
In\xa0Between Banat: Queer Arab Critique and Transnational Arab Archives\xa0(Duke UP, 2023),\xa0Mejdulene Bernard Shomali examines homoeroticism and non-normative sexualities between Arab women in transnational Arab literature, art, and film.\xa0\nMoving from\xa0The Thousand and One Nights\xa0and 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\u2019s futures, she draws on the transliterated term \u201cbanat\u201d\u2014the Arabic word for girls\u2014to refer to women, femmes, and nonbinary people who disrupt stereotypical and Orientalist representations of the \u201cArab woman.\u201d By attending to Arab women\u2019s 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.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices\nSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies