Writing Queer Identities in Morocco: Abdellah Taia and Moroccan Committed Literature

Description

This book explores queer identity in Morocco through the work of author and LGBT activist Abdellah Taia, who defied the country's anti-homosexuality laws by publicly coming out in 2006. Engaging postcolonial, queer and literary theory, Tina Dransfeldt Christensen examines Taia's art and activism in the context of the wider debates around sexuality in Morocco. Placing key novels such as Salvation Army and Infidels in dialogue with Moroccan writers including Driss Chraibi and Abdelkebir Khatibi, she shows how Taia draws upon a long tradition of politically committed art in Morocco to subvert traditional notions of heteronormativity. By giving space to silenced or otherwise marginalised voices, she shows how his writings offer a powerful critique of discourses of class, authenticity, culture and nationality in Morocco and North Africa.

Tina Dransfeldt Christensen holds an MA in Islamic Studies from University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and a PhD in Cultural Encounters from Roskilde University, Denmark. She is currently an external lecturer at Roskilde University. She has published in peer reviewed journals and collections including Expressions maghrebines, International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Journal of North African Studies and Islamic Studies Journal.

Writing Queer Identities in Morocco tackles very significant aspects of Moroccan literature and society. Taia's writing is suggestively related to crucial moments and authors since colonial times, such as Chraibi and Khatibi, or to prison testimonies of the Years of Lead. In writing the self as an act of (queer) commitment and questioning any readily established identity categories, Taia becomes one of the key voices, literally and politically, of the future of Morocco, that necessarily has to be queer. -- Gonzalo Fernandez Parrilla, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain "Writing Queer Identities in Morocco makes a very timely and important contribution to the field of queer Maghribi studies and North African studies more generally. Whereas Abdellah Taia is often presented as an exceptionally "out" and "self-absorbed" Moroccan writer, the strength of Tina Dransfeldt Christensen's approach consists in situating his treatment of sexuality in relation to other Morocco writers and LGBTQ organising in Morocco. By recontextualising his individual story within the collective as a key site for the writing of queer identity, this book's rich, informative chapters invite us to consider committed literature and autobiographical writing in innovative ways." -- Jarrod Hayes, Monash University, Australia