Desiring Arabs Desiring Arabs JOSEPH A. MASSAD The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London JOSEPH A. MASSAD is associate professor of modern Arab politics and intellectual history at Columbia University. He is the author of Colonial Effects: The Making of National Identity in Jordan and The Persistence of the Palestinian Question: Essays on Zionism and the Palestinians. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2007 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2007 Printed in the United States of America 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-50958-7 (cloth) ISBN-10: 0-226-50958-3 (cloth) An earlier version of chapter 3 was published in the journal Public Culture (Spring 2002). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Massad, Joseph Andoni, 1963– Desiring Arabs / Joseph A. Massad. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-226-50958-7 (cloth : alk paper) ISBN-10: 0-226-50958-3 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Civilization, Arab. 2. Arabs—Sexual behavior. 3. Arab countries—Foreign public opinion, Western. I. Title. DS36.77.M38 2007 306.70917'4927—dc22 2006039690 ᭺ϱ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. To the memory of MAGDA AL-NOWAIHI AND EDWARD W. SAID Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 Anxiety in Civilization 51 2 Remembrances of Desires Past 99 3 Re-Orienting Desire: The Gay International and the Arab World 160 4 Sin, Crimes, and Disease: Taxonomies of Desires Present 191 5 Deviant Fictions 269 6 The Truth of Fictional Desires 335 Conclusion 415 Works Cited 419 Name Index 443 Subject Index 449 Acknowledgments This book was supposed to be an intellectual history of the modern Arab world revolving around the question of cul- ture, heritage, and modernity. At the time, I began to think about it, and I presented an initial paper on the subject at the annual conference of the Middle East Studies Asso- ciation, I did not think that the question of desire would become so essential to it. The book would soon take a dif- ferent turn altogether. In fact, the question of sexual desire did not come about due to an initial scholarly interest in the subject matter but rather out of political frustration with the nature of West- ern political discourse on and journalistic representations of the sexual desires of Arabs. Since I arrived in the United States in pursuit of university education in the early 1980s, I argued with many Westerners and a few Arabs who re- produced the discourse of sexual identities as “universals” and upheld their “right” to defend such identities wherever they were repressed. I disagreed vehemently. When I chose the scholarly route, I came to understand identities as dis- cursive effects, and therefore opted not to publish anything about the subject in order not to contribute to the prob- lem by inciting more discourse about it. Mervat Hatem and Neville Hoad, friends and scholars, began to push me since the early 1990s to articulate my ideas in writing, as the analysis and political views I espoused were not being represented at all, and the discourse was expanding relent- lessly. My contribution, I hoped, while admittedly incit- ing more discourse in the Western academy, could at least introduce a necessary criticism to which most remained ix ACKNOWLEDGMENTS blind, and could shift the object of discourse from sexual desire onto how discourse about sex is incited and how it relates to concepts like civilization and culture. With much trepidation and uncertainty, I ac- cepted in 1999 a generous invitation from Elizabeth Povinelli, who at the time was teaching at the University of Chicago, to a conference she was organizing titled “Hatred: Confronting the Other” scheduled to take place in Feb ruary 2000. This provided the opportunity to write and pres- ent a fi rst draft of what would become chapter 3. A longer version of the paper would soon be published in the journal Public Culture. In light of this, I gradually began to think about the modern intellectual history of the representation of Arab sexual desires. While there were sporadic studies about Western and Orientalist representations, there was noth- ing about Arab representations. The project became clearer in my mind, and I set out to write it. I thank Mervat, Neville, and Beth for making this book possible. I began my research in earnest during my sabbatical year 2002–3, which I spent in the United Kingdom at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). I am indebted to the late Edward Said and Colin Bundy for arranging my affi liation with SOAS. SOAS and London were the perfect place to be, away from America’s jin- goism after 9/11 and its more intense anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hatred. I was sustained by the intellectual and political energies of many peo- ple affi liated with SOAS, including a great group of undergraduate and graduate students: Awad Joumaa, Khaled Ziyadah, Afaf Udwan, Reem Botmeh, Samia Botmeh, Omar Waraich, Wafa Qubbaj, and Nick Denes provided excellent conversations, great food, and the perfect pub com- panionship. Sarah Stewart was the kindest offi ce companion. At Columbia, my students in three seminars, “Turath and Modernity,” “The Politics of Desire,” and “Studying Gender and Sexuality in the Arab World,” were excellent interlocutors. Munis al-Hojairi, Hala Al-Hoshan, Alex (Ali) Wick, Dina Ramadan, Nader Uthman, Nadia Guessous, Lana Kammourieh, Elizabeth Holt, Zachary Wales, Karim Tartoussieh, Claire Panetta, Sandy Choi, Megan Patrick, Linda Sayed, and Jung Min Seo read voraciously. Their complaints about the amount of reading they had to do did not however detract from their enthusiasm. I thank them all for their serious engagement. I was invited to give lectures based on the book at a number of uni- versities. I thank Elizabeth Povinelli for inviting me to the University of Chicago where I gave the inaugural lecture relating to this book. I also thank Chandan Reddy for inviting me to the University of Washington in Seattle, Eugene Rogan for inviting me to Saint Antony’s College at x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Oxford University, Robert Young and Rajeswari Sunderrajan for invit- ing me to Wadham College at Oxford, Yasir Suleiman for inviting me to the University of Edinburgh, Wenchen Ouyang for inviting me to SOAS, Robert Vitalis for inviting me to the University of Pennsylvania, Samir Khalaf and Eugene Rogan for inviting to the American University of Beirut, Wael Hallaq and Michelle Hartman for inviting me to Mc- Gill University and Dana Sajdi for arranging it, Ann Lesch and Martina Reiker for inviting me to the American University in Cairo, and Mazhar Al-Zoby and Khaldoun Samman for inviting me to Macalester College. I also would like to express my appreciation to the Middle East Institute and the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures and the University Seminars at Columbia University for their help in the publication of this book. Some of the ideas presented in the book have benefi ted from discussions in the Columbia University Arabic Seminar. I thank my colleague George Saliba for inviting me to address the seminar. The book was written in three cities, London, Amman, and New York. In London, the friendship, love, and support of Islah Jad, who was also spending a couple of years in the city, were indispensable. I am not sure what I would have done without her. Making and eating sushi together is one of my fondest memories. Ahdaf Soueif provided much-needed warmth and political solidarity. The companionship of Islah and Ahdaf and that of the SOAS students made London a most pleasant place to be. In Amman, I received incalculable support from my mother and sis- ters. My mother complained that I did not have enough time to con- verse with her and is therefore the happiest that the book is fi nally done. My father, who was not inclined to things academic, but was excited and proud that I was fi nishing another book, did not live to see it pub- lished. He died of lung cancer in Feb ruary 2005. My only consolation is that he lived to see my fi rst book published. He would always ask me for more copies to give to his friends. Without the intellectual engagement, friendship, and bibliographic advice of Muhammad Ayyub and Hasan Abu-Haniyyah, Amman would have been much less engaging intellec- tually. Our conversations at Muhammad’s bookstore and over tea and narguileh were (and are) a most sustaining ritual. In New York, the great loving company of Ali Razki and Susan Scott-Kerr provided regularly over the greatest and most delicious meals made the city livable, even at the grimmest moments. If they ever leave New York, they must pack me away with them. I asked and received advice and help from many colleagues and scholars who responded to my queries with much generosity. Anton Shammas, Talal Asad, Philip Khoury, Carole Bardenstein, Khaled Fahmy, xi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Ahmad Dallal, Jamil Dakwar, Yousry Nasrallah, Tayeb El-Hibri, and Mona El-Ghobashi gave excellent suggestions of books, newspaper arti- cles, and other reading material that I needed to consider. Yasin Nourani alerted me early on in my research to a passage he remembered in Sal- amah Musa’s autobiography, which opened a Pandora’s box, of which he was not aware. My good friend Nour Barakat shared his knowledge of fi lms, popular culture, and literature.