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Sexuality Studies
Disruptive Situations: Fractal Orientalism and Queer Strategies in Beirut
2021 American Sociological Association's Section on Sexualities Distinguished Book Award
2021 Gloria E. Anzaldúa Book Prize, National Women's Studies Association
Disruptive Situations challenges representations of contemporary Beirut as an exceptional space for LGBTQ people by highlighting everyday life in a city where violence is the norm. Ghassan Moussawi, a Beirut native, seeks to uncover the underlying processes of what he calls "fractal orientalism," a relational understanding of modernity and cosmopolitanism that illustrates how transnational discourses of national and sexual exceptionalism operate on multiple scales in the Arab world.
Moussawi's intrepid ethnography features the voices of women, gay men and genderqueer persons in Beirut to examine how queer individuals negotiate life in this uncertain region. He examines " al-wad' ," or "the situation," to understand the practices that form these strategies and to raise questions about queer-friendly spaces in and beyond Beirut.
Disruptive Situations alsoshows how LGBTQ Beirutis resist reconciliation narratives and position their identities and visibility at different times as ways of simultaneously managing their multiple positionalities and al-wad' . Moussawi argues that the daily survival strategies in Beirut are queer —and not only enacted by LGBTQ people—since Beirutis are living amidst an already queer situation of ongoing precarity.
2021 Gloria E. Anzaldúa Book Prize, National Women's Studies Association
Disruptive Situations challenges representations of contemporary Beirut as an exceptional space for LGBTQ people by highlighting everyday life in a city where violence is the norm. Ghassan Moussawi, a Beirut native, seeks to uncover the underlying processes of what he calls "fractal orientalism," a relational understanding of modernity and cosmopolitanism that illustrates how transnational discourses of national and sexual exceptionalism operate on multiple scales in the Arab world.
Moussawi's intrepid ethnography features the voices of women, gay men and genderqueer persons in Beirut to examine how queer individuals negotiate life in this uncertain region. He examines " al-wad' ," or "the situation," to understand the practices that form these strategies and to raise questions about queer-friendly spaces in and beyond Beirut.
Disruptive Situations alsoshows how LGBTQ Beirutis resist reconciliation narratives and position their identities and visibility at different times as ways of simultaneously managing their multiple positionalities and al-wad' . Moussawi argues that the daily survival strategies in Beirut are queer —and not only enacted by LGBTQ people—since Beirutis are living amidst an already queer situation of ongoing precarity.
- GenresQueerNonfiction
209 pages, Paperback
Published June 22, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 6, 2020
True interdisciplinary work is difficult and rare. Ghassan Moussawi's Disruptive Situations is the rare work that does it and does it well. A sociologist and queer theorist, Moussawi presents a study of disruption in Beirut, Lebanon that examines it through the lens of queerness. The book is at once a media analysis of how Lebanon is described by the West (particularly Western gay travel organizations), an ethnographic study of Beirut's LGBT population through interviews with LGBTQ Beiruitis, and a work of queer theory that pushes back on the Euro-American-centrism of contemporary queer theory. Moussawi extends queer of color critique by pointing out its failures to consider international populations and by demonstrating what a truly international queer theory might look like. He builds theory from the ground up, centering his interviewees not as the subjects of analysis but as theorists in their own right. By listening to and centering their accounts of Lebanon, queerness, gender, and the ongoing political disruptions in the region, he produces a set of theoretical terms that build on their own analyses. This is one of the few pieces that takes peoples in the Global South not as a objects to be analyzed but as analysts whose strategies for day-to-day life are theory and praxis in one.
He argues that analyzing countries or cities in their of their LGBT visibility producing a false idea of "progress" that is modeled on Euro-American models of queerness. He lays out the idea of "fractal Orientalism," in which the binary of the West and the East is subdivided at different scales, producing an idea of the "more Western" parts of the Middle East, for example, by recourse to accounts of "gay friendliness." In other words, he notes that Western and Middle Eastern tourism accounts often describe Lebanon as "more Western" than the rest of the Middle East because of its gay-friendliness, a gay-friendliness that is actually only primarily available to white, upper-class Westerners. Then, he argues, fractal Orientalism describes Beirut as more "western" than the rest of the Lebanon for these same reasons (calling it "the Paris of the Middle East"). Then he points out how the Christian neighborhoods in Beirut are described as more "Western" and "progressive" than the Muslim ones, etc etc. This idea of fractal orientalism--in which distinctions within an Orientalized space are made by comparison to Euro-American models of gay-friendliness--is the book's central theoretical tool, and one that should prove useful to sociologists, queer theorists, and scholars of Orientalism.
Moussawi's book further suggests that analysis of LGBT populations in a situation of ongoing disruption (due to war, terrorism, political unrest, & colonialism) cannot proceed by treating their sexuality as the most important part of their identity. Instead, he demonstrates how they conceive of identity as relational and situational, intersecting with religious sect, class, gender, race, and nationality. He introduces the concept of a'-wad' [the situation] to describe the ongoing disruption of life where there is no normal or sense of stability, then demonstrates how his LGBT interlocutors engage with it and live amongst it. He critiques dominant ideas of LGBT visibility, showing that they offer a simplified account of the complexity of lived identity, especially amidst disruption. He demonstrates the shortcomings of Western queer theory, which assumes a stable subject and situation, and shows how queer subjects in the Arab world are engaged in ongoing negotiations, contestations, and adoptions of Western LGBT identities. They oppose what he calls "reconciliation narratives" that posit that, in order to adopt LGBT identities, they must "reconcile" these identities to other identities (such as Muslim) that are assumed to be opposed to it. For his interviewees, no reconciliation is necessary. He suggests that queer strategies of life can tell us a lot about geopolitical situations and politics. Ultimately, the book is a powerful critique of modernity itself and the stories that it tells about itself, a critique that instead focuses on the marginalizations and exclusions that modernity requires.
He argues that analyzing countries or cities in their of their LGBT visibility producing a false idea of "progress" that is modeled on Euro-American models of queerness. He lays out the idea of "fractal Orientalism," in which the binary of the West and the East is subdivided at different scales, producing an idea of the "more Western" parts of the Middle East, for example, by recourse to accounts of "gay friendliness." In other words, he notes that Western and Middle Eastern tourism accounts often describe Lebanon as "more Western" than the rest of the Middle East because of its gay-friendliness, a gay-friendliness that is actually only primarily available to white, upper-class Westerners. Then, he argues, fractal Orientalism describes Beirut as more "western" than the rest of the Lebanon for these same reasons (calling it "the Paris of the Middle East"). Then he points out how the Christian neighborhoods in Beirut are described as more "Western" and "progressive" than the Muslim ones, etc etc. This idea of fractal orientalism--in which distinctions within an Orientalized space are made by comparison to Euro-American models of gay-friendliness--is the book's central theoretical tool, and one that should prove useful to sociologists, queer theorists, and scholars of Orientalism.
Moussawi's book further suggests that analysis of LGBT populations in a situation of ongoing disruption (due to war, terrorism, political unrest, & colonialism) cannot proceed by treating their sexuality as the most important part of their identity. Instead, he demonstrates how they conceive of identity as relational and situational, intersecting with religious sect, class, gender, race, and nationality. He introduces the concept of a'-wad' [the situation] to describe the ongoing disruption of life where there is no normal or sense of stability, then demonstrates how his LGBT interlocutors engage with it and live amongst it. He critiques dominant ideas of LGBT visibility, showing that they offer a simplified account of the complexity of lived identity, especially amidst disruption. He demonstrates the shortcomings of Western queer theory, which assumes a stable subject and situation, and shows how queer subjects in the Arab world are engaged in ongoing negotiations, contestations, and adoptions of Western LGBT identities. They oppose what he calls "reconciliation narratives" that posit that, in order to adopt LGBT identities, they must "reconcile" these identities to other identities (such as Muslim) that are assumed to be opposed to it. For his interviewees, no reconciliation is necessary. He suggests that queer strategies of life can tell us a lot about geopolitical situations and politics. Ultimately, the book is a powerful critique of modernity itself and the stories that it tells about itself, a critique that instead focuses on the marginalizations and exclusions that modernity requires.
March 28, 2026
I had to read the first and third chapter from this book for a college course. I liked it so much that I bought the book. I enjoyed this book as the author applies fractals, a math concept, to social dynamics. A fractal is a shape that reproduces at different scales, how a snowflake or tree builds itself. The author looks at these comparisons within orientalism and can identify them at different scales: west vs east, Lebanon vs the rest of the east, Beirut vs the rest of Lebanon, and Beiruti vs Beiruti, seen as Muslims vs Christians.
The author starts making these observations while studying in the US. He found articles, with a target audience of American/Euro gay men, that positioned Beirut as the Provincetown of the Middle East (Provincetown is a gay destination in Massachusetts). The author demonstrates that Beirut is seen as exceptional only when compared to the rest of the east. Seen on a smaller scale, the author makes observations about Beirutis perceptions of other Middle Eastern people. For example, a Beiruti being offended when a man with multiple wives are tourists within Beirut. We're middle Eastern but we're not like them. This multi-scalar orientalism is seen from westerns and is upheld by certain individuals within Beirut.
The second topic of the book is queer strategies. The author uses the word queer as both a descriptor for gender noncomforing and or LGBT individuals. Queer, as used as a verb rather than adjective, identifies the "normal" way of doing things and the "queer" way of doing things. When using it in this way, the individual must always identify the "normal". However, in Beirut circa 2005-2016, the "normal" is experiencing everyday disruptions, government reconstructions after a civil war, the 2006 Israli war, suicide bombings, and government failure seen through a garbage crisis. How do people live through daily precarious situations? The author interviews many queer Beirutis in a hope of answering how queer people navigate queer situations.
The author writes in a style that is approachable and not overly academic. He also explains cultural significance, like Lebanese TV shows that have gay characters. When talking about his interviewees, he decenters their identity, and talks more about what they are doing and not who they are. This is not a book about gay life in Beirut. This is a book that asks many questions and attempts to solve them. How do you navigate uncertainty? Who gets to feel safe? What do you do that alleviates the daily stress of life?
The author starts making these observations while studying in the US. He found articles, with a target audience of American/Euro gay men, that positioned Beirut as the Provincetown of the Middle East (Provincetown is a gay destination in Massachusetts). The author demonstrates that Beirut is seen as exceptional only when compared to the rest of the east. Seen on a smaller scale, the author makes observations about Beirutis perceptions of other Middle Eastern people. For example, a Beiruti being offended when a man with multiple wives are tourists within Beirut. We're middle Eastern but we're not like them. This multi-scalar orientalism is seen from westerns and is upheld by certain individuals within Beirut.
The second topic of the book is queer strategies. The author uses the word queer as both a descriptor for gender noncomforing and or LGBT individuals. Queer, as used as a verb rather than adjective, identifies the "normal" way of doing things and the "queer" way of doing things. When using it in this way, the individual must always identify the "normal". However, in Beirut circa 2005-2016, the "normal" is experiencing everyday disruptions, government reconstructions after a civil war, the 2006 Israli war, suicide bombings, and government failure seen through a garbage crisis. How do people live through daily precarious situations? The author interviews many queer Beirutis in a hope of answering how queer people navigate queer situations.
The author writes in a style that is approachable and not overly academic. He also explains cultural significance, like Lebanese TV shows that have gay characters. When talking about his interviewees, he decenters their identity, and talks more about what they are doing and not who they are. This is not a book about gay life in Beirut. This is a book that asks many questions and attempts to solve them. How do you navigate uncertainty? Who gets to feel safe? What do you do that alleviates the daily stress of life?
November 14, 2020
I like the concepts that Moussawi uses to consider queer life in Beirut (fractal orientalisms, bubbles, visibility) that come together under al’wad. I wish al’wad itself had been given more time and, maybe, served as the driving theme for the book instead of fractal orientalism (given the title, I think that’s what Moussawi wanted too, but it seems to have fallen into second place in the writing).
March 20, 2021
Great theoretical intervention - fractal orientalism. Lucidly written, easy to read and quite engaging, though some more focus on al-wad' would have been great.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews