Book Talk: Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique

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The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies invites all members of the Georgetown community to a book talk with author Sa’ed Atshan on his latest book, “Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique.”

About the Book: From Ramallah to New York, Tel Aviv to Porto Alegre, people around the world celebrate a formidable, transnational Palestinian LGBTQ social movement. Solidarity with Palestinians has become a salient domain of global queer politics. Yet LGBTQ Palestinians, even as they fight patriarchy and imperialism, are themselves subjected to an “empire of critique” from Israeli and Palestinian institutions, Western academics, journalists and filmmakers, and even fellow activists. With this book, Sa’ed Atshan asks how transnational progressive social movements can balance struggles for liberation along more than one axis. He explores critical junctures in the history of Palestinian LGBTQ activism, revealing the queer Palestinian spirit of agency, defiance, and creativity, in the face of daunting pressures and forces working to constrict it.

The book is available for free online from the GU Library or you can buy a physical copy: Stanford Press | Amazon (kindle option available)