Raed El Rafei

This project examines contemporary queer moving image works from Lebanon and its diaspora through an interdisciplinary approach using film and media studies, Middle Eastern studies, queer theory, and ethnography. The project demonstrates that queer Lebanese artists have forged a unique queer imaginary drawing from local and regional cultures, histories, and archives while adopting, contesting, and reimagining western references. It argues that films and artworks from Lebanon help us understand Arab queer subjectivities in new complex ways. The project shows how the works analyzed redefine the relation of the individual to the collective at communal, national, or international levels, and produce speculative and utopian visions in response to local, regional, and global contexts and realities.