Queer Palestinians: A New Paradigm
Examining the struggles for freedom and against homophobia
BY MICHAEL LUONGO
Dr. Sa’ed Atshan, an assistant
professor of
Peace and Confl ict Studies
at Swarthmore College,
outside of Philadelphia, recently
published “Queer Palestine
and the Empire of Critique” as well
as “The Moral Triangle: Germans,
Israelis, Palestinians,” which he
co-authored with Dr. Katharina
Galor.
A Palestinian originally from
Ramallah, Atshan is a Quaker
and an LGBTQ human rights activist,
in addition to being an academic.
He has, in the past, worked
for the United Nations, the American
Civil Liberties Union, and Human
Rights Watch, among other
groups.
Atshan earned a joint Ph.D. in
Anthropology and Middle Eastern
Studies from Harvard University,
as well as a master’s in Public Policy
from Harvard’s Kennedy School
of Government. He was previously
a postdoctoral fellow at Brown University’s
Watson Institute for International
Studies and has been
awarded multiple graduate fellowships,
including from the Open
Society Foundations, the National
Science Foundation, the Social Science
Research Council, the Woodrow
Wilson National Foundation,
the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,
and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation.
Ashtan spoke with Gay City
News about “Queer Palestine” and
his life as a gay Palestinian in the
US, LGBTQ issues in Israel and
Palestine, and the occupation.
Michael Luongo: Tell me about
what brought you to write this
book? And explain the meaning of
the name of the book.
Sa’ed Atshan: The book is partly
autoethnographic, examining
my journey of consciousness as
a queer Palestinian. I also trace
the rise of the LGBTQ Palestinian
social movement. One of my
arguments is that the critique of
imperialism has been transformed
into an empire of critique, hence
the title of the book. In furthering
Swarthmore College Professor Sa’ed Atshan, author of “Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique.”
this point, I make the case for the
necessity of combining the struggle
for Palestinian freedom and
the struggle against homophobia,
while not privileging one over the
other in the name of anti-imperialism.
Luongo: You write in early parts
of the book about your time at universities
in the United States, Harvard
and also Swarthmore, where
you now teach. What was that
like? I know from the book that not
all of it was pleasant. And tell us
about the intriguingly named Audre
Lorde/ Edward Said honor you
received, which seems to embody
two of your identities.
Atshan: Educational institutions
have been transformational
spaces for me, allowing me to discover
who I am and the kind of person
I want to be in the world. There
have been challenges in dealing
with anti-Palestinian racism. But I
have been overall very blessed with
support as well as reaching inward
toward my resilience.
I graduated from Swarthmore in
2006 and received a special award
that year named after both Audre
Lorde and Edward Said. That was
huge for me given that Lorde was a
giant in the queer world and Said
was a towering fi gure in the Palestinian
world. In fact, they both still
loom very large as inspirations for
COURTESY OF DR. SA’ED ATSHAN
countless individuals around the
world.
Luongo: What are some of the
BOOKS
issues for LGBTQ folks in Palestine
that are different from other
parts of the Arab world?
Atshan: LGBTQ Palestinians
face similar challenges as in
other parts of the Arab world but
the context of living under Israeli
military occupation is unique. The
oppression from life under the longest
military occupation in modern
history exacerbates homophobia
within Palestinian society.
Luongo: Most people think of
Palestine in relation to Israel —
what makes sense about this and
what does not, in terms of LGBTQ
issues and for other issues?
Atshan: We have to be careful
when we juxtapose the Israeli and
Palestinian contexts with regard
to homophobia. Concerns about
pinkwashing are at play here —
➤ QUEER PALESTINIANS, continued on p.23
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