VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages
Abstract
While this is not the first or last research on Lebanese queer communities, my academic paper aims to contribute to pioneering public history in Lebanon. Queer societies’ heritage and records are surrounded by homophobic politics and laws, marginalization, censorship, and torn Arab/queer identity. Queer communities’ memory needs to be included in the history of Lebanon. I hope to highlight the growing sense of the importance of studying gender and sexuality in the Middle East. While looking into the bibliography on Arab queerness and female homosexuality in the region, I will explain the government and religious powers’ responsibility for creating hostile environments for queer people. I will also look into artistic expression and openly queer presence in digital spaces. I will research queer heritage and records of existence. Finally, I will present an oral history project I will have conducted with queer Lebanese individuals living in Lebanon in 2022.
Nay Massoud Achkar was raised in Beirut, Lebanon. Has a BA in History and International relations with a minor in Sociology, and has arrived in the U.S. in 2021 for Graduate school. Currently pursuing a Master’s at NCState in Public History, planning to pursue a Ph.D. as well. She is interested in questions of identity, memory of the Lebanese people in Lebanon and the diaspora, also questions of heritage, and activists’ role in cultural preservation. She finds inspiration in traveling and living abroad, visiting cultural centers, and learning about cultural preservation from foreign countries.
2:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Thursday 29th June, 2023