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Course Description

Summary

This course will examine the construction and experience of gender and sexuality in the Middle East through a musical lens. Drawing on research in ethnomusicology, queer studies, gender studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and other interdisciplinary fields, we will study music-making and other modes of performance as processes of representation, assertion, and sometimes transgression of sexuality and gender identities. We will question assumptions about femininity and masculinity in the region from the Ottoman period to the present, highlighting historic and contemporary modes of performance (music, dance, theater) that create and strengthen a range of feminine, masculine, non-binary, and trans identities and spaces. We will also pay attention to Islamist mobilization, the experiences of LGBTQ performers and listeners, family, weddings, women’s labor, and the role of women musicians in recent uprisings and social change.