Nearby, Self-Critical, Ambivalent

Modes of Writing Arab Queerness

Bibliographic Data

ID8134056
AuthorsLamiae Bouqentar (0009-0006-5853-5499, University of Toronto, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume26
Issue3
Pages191-201
Publication date2026-01-17
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCulture Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1532-7086 • E-ISSN: 1552-356X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/15327086251413693
PMID41958870
OpenAlexW7124602977
LanguageEN
References cited22

This paper foregrounds what I term writing through encounters rooted in the premise of writing as a mode of creation. Encounters are understood as affective intensity generating a change in movement (Ahmed, 2000; Probyn, 2016). Through encounters with the self as well as with Arab/Swana queer immigrants, I articulate self-critical writing practices (Anzaldúa, 1987; Nelson, 2015; Mikkilä, 2024), and writing nearby (Minh-Ha, 1994) as creative and critical writing practices to weave an Arab queerness in a non-linear and fragmentary fashion. By attending to ambivalence as a site of critical inquiry and creative response, it invites a mode of writing that is open, multiple, unfinished, and always in encounters with the entangled worlds it inhabits. In this sense, writing through encounters offers novel ways for marginalized voices to reframe their understanding of intersectional identities oscillating between visibility and opacity, migratory experiences, and agencies within the academic landscape

Ambivalence · Cognitive reframing · Creative writing · Ethnography · Mode (computer interface · Premise · Queer · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · North African History and Literature · Postcolonial and Cultural Literary Studies

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Open DOIOpen Access