(De)constructing the Global: The Ephemeral Queer Arab and the Globalization of Mashrou Leila

• In Event: Conceptualizing and Mediating Space Through Global Communication

Abstract

This paper points to the globalization of the Lebanese band Mashrou Leila, tracing the ways that the labels of “Arab,” “Muslim,” “queer,” “gay,” “homosexual,” “terrorist,” “faggot,” “voice of the Arab Spring,” and “revolutionary” have been conjured in moments of crisis and definition. Recognizing that these discursive constructions are often conjured at the expense of the bodies it purports to understand, the performative space of the concert and the circulation of popular music can uncover ways of bypassing often-violent boundary markers. By tracing the band's globalization, we uncover the contentious contours of space for queer Arabs who are often situated between totalizing discourses of authenticity. By looking to the physical and virtual spaces opened through production of the band’s music, new kinds of discursive work are putting into question dominant logics of gender, sexuality, and nation in the Arab region.

Author

• Heather Radwan Jaber, Annenberg School for Communication / U of Pennsylvania