“We’re all some sort of shaath”: Convergence and transversality of minorities in Saleem Haddad’s Guapa

ABSTRACT

Saleem Haddad’s debut novel, Guapa, has been celebrated for its depiction of queerness in the Middle East. The novel goes beyond exploring alternative sexualities in a reaction to the overtly predominant heterosexuality of the region. This article traces how Haddad draws on the upheavals that erupted during the Arab Spring. Drawing on Rosi Braidotti’s concept of transversality that is intended to offset the rise of tribalism and heightened nationalist sentiments, the article applies the concept to the main character, Rasa, who strives to negotiate between his queerness and political zeal to build a more egalitarian society that functions beyond notions of Arabism and anti-western attitudes. The argument shows how the novel moves beyond an imagined sense of national affiliation to embrace a much wider spectrum of minoritized identities that are not coerced into a homogeneous form nor influenced by the pull of history, religion, and gender normativity.

KEYWORDS:

• Arab Spring
• Guapa
• Saleem Haddad
• transversal identities
• queer Arab
• becoming-minority

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Lava Asaad

Lava Asaad is a lecturer in English at Auburn University, Alabama, USA. Her research areas include but are not limited to anglophone literatures, modern British literature, women and gender studies, and Middle Eastern literature. She is the author of Literature with a White Helmet: The Textual-Corporeality of Being, Becoming and Representing Refugees (2020). She is also co-editor of Women in the Crossfire of History: Women’s War Resistance Discourse in the Global South (2022).