Thirteenth Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Echoing Lila Abu-Lughod’s famous inquiry, “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?,” in this paper, I ask, “do queer and trans Muslims need saving?” Through an in-depth ethnographic study with queer and trans Muslims in the United States, I develop the concept of imperial solidarities that are regimes of Eurocentric, liberal, white, savior, middle class, queer, and trans unities and sympathies that establish certain forms of queer and trans ties across borders while serving the empire’s project of “divide and rule.” Analyzing queer and trans Muslims’ narratives, the paper argues that imperial solidarities situate Islam as anti queer and trans which then contributes to an already rising Islamophobia within and outside queer and trans communities. One other political implications of imperial solidarities that this paper engages with is the troubled sense of queer and trans Muslim’s (be)longing both within Muslim communities and broader queer and trans communities.