Anthropology of the Middle East

The figure of the ‘third gender’, is not a ‘Western phenomenon’ but is present in many Muslim societies from the Medinese mukhannath period until today. While there is a long history of significant roles provided to effeminate men, the opposite – the process of recognition of masculinized females – is much rarer. All the effeminate figures share similar characteristics, such as being young and beardless, and practicing music, singing, and dancing, especially in ceremonies, where they become objects of desire for men. Today, cross-dressing is revisited by Arab choreographers and performing artists, and new medical advances provide third gender individuals the possibility to take hormones and/or undergo gender affirmation surgery to become trans.

In this article, I explore how trans* citizens are recognized in Iranian society by analysing the production of knowledge within jurisprudential, legal, and medical systems. I use the concept of epistemic misrecognition as my theoretical tool drawing on Miranda Fricker's (2007) notion of epistemic injustice in consolidation with Nancy Fraser's (2001) work on status misrecognition. Addressing interviews with trans* people, surgeons, activists, and a jurist in Iran, I discuss how the limited knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence, coupled with the medical system's narrow understanding of gender, establish an authoritative sources of knowledge that perpetuate various forms of harm against trans* people at individual, institutional and structural levels in society. Nevertheless, trans* people understand and embody gender independently of this knowledge, struggling for status recognition as equal citizens.

The topic of trans individuals in Iran has garnered significant attention in recent decades, primarily due to the context of the Islamic Republic, where gender affirmation surgery (GAS), or ʿamalī-ye tasdīq-i jinsīyat in Persian, has been legally permitted since 1982 under a fatwa. Despite this, there is limited literature on trans people and marriage in Iran. This article explores marriage and divorce among Iranian trans individuals, examining their experiences within the societal institution of marriage as a significant cultural milestone. The study utilizes qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted between 2016 and 2018 with fourteen Iranian trans individuals in both Iran and Denizli, Turkey. Additionally, online interviews were conducted in 2024 with Iranian trans individuals who are currently in relationships or who have been divorced.

This article is a reflection on the precarious lives of the transpuan community in Indonesia focused on four ethnographic case studies from Bali, a place often romanticized as a refuge for queer identities. We reveal the multifaceted experiences of transpuan individuals who navigate their lives differently in circumstances marked by both resistance and misrecognition. Together, these narratives confront systemic inequalities and discrimination, disrupting the dominant discourse that frames transpuan lives as mere tales of victimhood. Instead, they celebrate the joy, creativity, and empowerment that flourish within this community. This exploration advocates for a more nuanced recognition of transpuan identities that urge society to embrace their vibrant existence and acknowledge the profound complexities that shape their experiences.

This study explores the poetry of Enderunlu Fâzıl, an 18th-century Ottoman poet. In his book Hûbân-nâme (The Book of Beauties), he described the physical appearance and traits of men from different parts of the world. Despite his lack of interest in women, he also wrote Zenân-nâme (The Book of Women) at his male lover's request. Fâzıl also wrote Çengi-nâme (The Book of Dancers), which describes Istanbul's famous male dancers, and Defter-i Aşk (Love's Register), in which he shared his own same-sex love stories. This article provides an overview of Enderunlu Fâzıl's perspective on gender and sexuality. It draws upon all of his writings to comprehensively examine his general opinions on men and women, his preferences and dislikes regarding both genders, and his perspectives on sexuality.

This article will focuses on the persistence of the mukhannath and especially the khunthā, two different paradigms of non-binary from Early Islamic society, in two contemporary Arabic novels from the Gulf: Khātim (1991), by the Saudi novelist Rajā’ ‘Ālim and Ḥābī (2019), by the Kuwaiti writer Ṭālib al-Rifā‘ī. In particular, I discuss the aims of the uses of these representations in contemporary literature and the articulation with modern terms and gender expressions from the LGBTQI+ community, such as the term mutaḥawwil used by the Kuwaiti writer al-Rifā‘ī. Thus, I analyse the choice to use or not use the classical terms and representations and what this choice translates into in terms of gender equality advocacy and feminist commitment.

This article explores the intersections of queerness and the 2011 revolution within two Syrian non-Arabic novels. Departing from traditional portrayals of male homosexual relationships in Arab literature, Le dernier Syrien (2020) and The Foghorn Echoes (2022) contribute to a broader effort to craft ‘disclosed’ representations of non-normative sexualities. By contextualizing queer narratives within the Syrian revolutionary process, these novels also enrich the uprising's discourses across individual, social, cultural, and political dimensions. As underscored by the LGBTQI+ series on Ḥikāya mā inḥakat/SyriaUntold (2013), archiving queer experiences related to the 2011 revolution is crucial for fostering a future collective memory that embraces inclusivity. These novels thus exemplify the role of literature in this archival endeavour, while illustrating the interconnections between discursive, sociocultural, and political forms of oppression.

The figure of the ‘third gender’ is not new in Egypt but today medical advances made it possible for trans people to undergo sex change surgery. Although a fatwā was issued in 1988 by the Sunnī muftī of al-Azhar in Cairo, at-Tantawi, about the case of a trans person, Sally Mursi, it did not in fact authorize surgery for trans people but only for intersex individuals. Recently, Malak al-Kashif, another trans woman, struggled for trans rights in the first trans association created in 2017 in Egypt called Transat. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the situation of transsexuality in Sunni Egypt with Shīʿī Iran shows that, paradoxically, Iran allows transsexual surgery for the same reason that Egypt forbids it: the ban of homosexuality.