Intersections, Interventions, and the Homoerotics of Orientalism -- talk by Joseph Boone

One of the largely untold stories of Orientalism is the degree to which the Middle East has been associated with male homosexuality by scores of Western travelers, historians, writers, and artists for well over 400 years. This story, when put into contrapuntal interplay with representations emanating from the Middle East, stands to reshape our preconceptions of Orientalism.

Drawing on his recently published work, The Homoerotics of Orientalism, USC Dornsife professor Joseph Boone addresses the theoretical, methodological, and ethical stakes involved in attempts to open a dialogue between Western perceptions and fantasies of homoeroticism in the Middle East, queer theory as it has evolved over the past decade, and the burgeoning field of sexuality studies in the Islamicate world.