Writing Queer Identities in Morocco: Abdellah Taïa and Moroccan Committed Literature(Written Culture and Identity)

This book explores queer identity in Morocco through the work of author and LGBT activist Abdellah Taïa, who defied the country’s anti-homosexuality laws by publicly coming out in 2006. Engaging postcolonial, queer and literary theory, Tina Dransfeldt Christensen examines Taïa’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 Chraïbi and Abdelkebir Khatibi, she shows how Taïa 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.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements Notes on Transcriptions and Translations Introduction 1. Writing the self as a site of (queer) commitment From “national allegory” to multidirectionality as a strategy of subversion The dual function of self-narration Queering the nation 2. Abdellah Taïa as author and activist Breaking the silence La génération du “je” Homosexuality “à la marocaine” 3. Subverting “ethnographic” reading strategies “Generation 54”: Beyond ethnography and acculturation Nobody sees anybody: Driss Chraïbi’s Le Passé simple Simply living a life of “deviance”: Abdellah Taïa’s L’Armée du salut 4. Writing transidentity in the language of the “other” “Third Worldism” and French as language of resistance: The Souffles-Anfa¯s movement Toward an ethics of bilingualism: Abdelkébir Khatibi’s Amour bilingue “Poor” French as a strategy of resistance: Abdellah Taïa’s Un Pays pour mourir 5. Shame, silence and nation building Gendered memories of political violence during the Years of Lead Dialogue of suffering: Fatna El Bouih’s ?adith al-‘atmah Taking revenge through love: Abdellah Taïa’s Infidèles Conclusion Notes Bibliography

About the Author :
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 maghrébines, International Journal of Postcolonial Studies, Journal of North African Studies and Islamic Studies Journal.

Review :
Writing Queer Identities in Morocco tackles very significant aspects of Moroccan literature and society. Taïa’s writing is suggestively related to crucial moments and authors since colonial times, such as Chraïbi 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, Taïa becomes one of the key voices, literally and politically, of the future of Morocco, that necessarily has to be queer. "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 Taïa 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."