Middle East Studies

Fadi Saleh - Refugeeness, Humanitarianism, and the Politics of Writing Syrian Queer and Trans* Histories

Fadi Saleh Syrian Queer and Trans Histories Poster

Thursday, October 7, 2021

12:00 - 1:00 p.m.

Virtual Event
Registration required. 

About the Lecture
Over the years following the Syrian Uprisings of March 2011, there has been an unprecedented global interest in and proliferation of representations of Syrian queer and trans* populations, who became primarily known and represented through the framework of being “LGBT refugees seeking humanitarian protection and asylum." This talk explores the politics of and problems with these hegemonic representations of Syrian LGBT communities and queer and trans* life in Syria, and suggests different theoretical, methodological, and analytical approaches to archiving and writing queer and trans* histories beyond Western humanitarian discourses and knowledge production frameworks. 

Virtual Event
Gender


About the Speaker
Fadi Saleh holds a PhD in cultural anthropology from the University of Göttingen, Germany. His research and teaching focuses on queer and trans issues from a transnational perspective, with special attention to migration, humanitarianism, and the politics of representation and knowledge production in the Middle East and North Africa. Outside of academia, he has worked in different civil society, human rights, and LGBTIQ organizations and institutions across the MENA region and Europe in different training, consultancy, advocacy, and activist capacities.