Teaching Queer Theory and Alleviating Public Depression.
¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 Kamal Salem
¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Dr. Alexis Lothian
¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 ENGL 985
¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0 Assignment # 4
¶ 5 Leave a comment on paragraph 5 0 Nov, 19th, 2013
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Teaching Queer Theory and Alleviating Public Depression
¶ 8 Leave a comment on paragraph 8 1 Anne Cvetkovich is the writer who impressed me most in this course. This basically came through her two texts, Depression: A Public Feeling and An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures. Although, on the surface, the two works seem to deal with different themes, a critical look at the works reveal that they are intertwined. My positive impression about the works was informed by the fact that I am a Muslim Arab student. In other words, two texts deal with topics that are both relevant as well as critical of Arab-Muslim culture. This has increased my exploration and critique of the Arab culture in general and the Arab educational system in particular and that is why I have made up my mind to include the author’s texts in my teaching curriculum.
¶ 9 Leave a comment on paragraph 9 1 To begin with, Depression: A Public Feeling is a vivid reflection of the Arab community in general. After all, Cvetkovich is concerned with depression as a cultural phenomenon rather than a personal one, which adds to my interpretation of it as a portrayal of the depression of the Arab community. Personally, I see the Arab public depression coming from two major sources, namely religious fundamentalism and strict social traditions. Both phenomenon have contributed to creating a suppressed culture that suffers from unconscious feeling of depression reflecting on people’s behaviors, personalities and views.
¶ 10 Leave a comment on paragraph 10 1 Religious fundamentalism sticks to literal interpretation of Islamic sources (the Quran and the Teachings of the Prophet). Although the major principle in Islamic Sharia is that “everything is allowed except things clearly prohibited,” fundamentalists have made it the other way around. With their readings and misinterpretations of the Islamic sources, they give the impression that a Muslim can only enjoy few pleasures in life. This is augmented by their emphasis that life is transitory and that eternal pleasure should be sought in the afterlife. In this respect, a major focus of Muslim fundamentalist is sex and sexuality. For them, (unlawful) sex is the major source of individual and societal corruption, thus strict rules should apply to prevent any cases of sex out of wedlock. These rules include Islamic dress of women, prohibiting any socialization between men and women except in formal cases and with the presence of other people. This is in addition to many other strict rules that create suppression in the individual, thus public depression.
¶ 11 Leave a comment on paragraph 11 0 Strict social traditions and norms came to augment this feeling of depression. Partly informed by fundamental interpretation of religious dictates, social customs limit individual freedom especially in the aspect mentioned above, namely sexuality. Comfortable communication between men and women is not encouraged, even rejected. Crimes of honor, the notorious crime in the Arab community, is a best example on the cultural mentality in this sphere. The point here is not to criticize the prohibition of unlawful sex but to criticize the exaggeration on this point that leads to public depression resulting from constant suppression.
¶ 12 Leave a comment on paragraph 12 2 If great suppression is imposed on straight sexuality, how would one imagine the view regarding queer sexuality? In brief, homosexuality in the Arab world is degraded, shunned upon and rejected by all means. Again, religion and social traditions create this view. Islam dictates that homosexuals should be punished by being thrown from the highest point in the region. On the other hand, the Arab society, as a patriarchal society par excellence, applies strict gender rules. Thus it looks down to men and women transgressing these rules. Queer sexuality, for the Arab society, is a deviation from the “normal” gender prescriptions.
¶ 13 Leave a comment on paragraph 13 2 Evidently, these feature of the Arab society extend to the educational system. Aside from the fact that co-education is not allowed in schools,
¶ 14 Leave a comment on paragraph 14 1 As a professor, I strongly believe that it is part of my mission to put an end to this public depression through my career. Drawing from the Freirian critical-pedagogy model, I shall try to contribute to stopping blockage to freedom and emancipation in the academic field. In more particular terms, I would reject the limitations put on choosing topics for the curriculum. For example, even a topic like feminism is not welcome in Arab universities. Speaking about queer theory, it is totally rejected. My mission, in turn, is to explore such forbidden territories and thus contribute to eradicating public depression.
¶ 15 Leave a comment on paragraph 15 0 Here comes to my mind Cvetkovich’s An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public. The book is majorly an account on trauma. In one sense, it shows the trauma of women in general and lesbians particular. This is in addition to victims of slavery and colonialism. It is not a coincidence that they are all combined under the umbrella of hegemony. The author contends that both have been neglected by society. In return, Cvetkovich methodology in dealing with this is to adopt a sex-positive approach. This is what I intend to use in my teaching, a sex-positive approach. In other words, my teaching of queer theory should go beyond the mere “bits and bobs” as Cvetkovich puts it.
¶ 16 Leave a comment on paragraph 16 0 In the book, Cvetkovich convincingly states that:
¶ 17 Leave a comment on paragraph 17 0 “in insisting on the value of marginal and ephemeral materials, the collectors of gay and lesbian archives propose that affects—associated with nostalgia, personal memory, fantasy and trauma—make a document significant. The archive of feelings is both material and immaterial, at once incorporating objects that might not be considered archival and at the same time, resisting documentation, because sex and feelings are too personal or ephemeral to leave records” (243-44).
¶ 18 Leave a comment on paragraph 18 0 In one sense, I would view my teaching of this field as a process of constructing and archive, though in figurative terms. By evoking the marginal and bringing the marginal to the center, I shall make “(queer) document significant.” Based on the premises of critical pedagogy, my teaching will never be didactic; in this regard, it will be an archive of feeling as such a topic is too personal or ephemeral to leave records.
¶ 19 Leave a comment on paragraph 19 1 I am fully aware that such a mission is extremely difficult, taking the Arab socio-religious background into consideration. However, I strongly believe that this is part of my mission as a teacher and thus part of my identity. After all, Cvetkovich calls for a new forms of writing (teaching) that affects depression either directly or indirectly.
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Works Cited
¶ 25 Leave a comment on paragraph 25 0 Cvetkovich, Anne, Depression: A Public Feeling. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2012.
¶ 26 Leave a comment on paragraph 26 0 Anne Cvetkovich, “In the Archive of Lesbian Feelings” An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003. 239-272.
I would never have thought that these works would have special relevance to Arab-Muslim culture! I am excited to hear that they resonated for you and look forward to learning more…