What is it like to be queer in Palestine and what are the political realities and challenges?  Today, we get insights.

Our guest is author Sa’ed Atshan.  His book  Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique (Stanford University Press, 2020) traces the rise of the LGBTQ movement in Palestine and how it has then become a transnational queer movement in solidarity with Palestinians.

Sa'ed is Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Swarthmore College, where he is also Coordinator of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program. He previously served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. He earned a Joint PhD in Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies (2013) and MA in Social Anthropology (2010) from Harvard University, Master in Public Policy (MPP) degree (2008) from the Harvard Kennedy School, and BA (2006) from Swarthmore.  As an anthropologist and peace and conflict studies scholar, his research is focused on a) contemporary Palestinian society and politics, b) global LGBTQ social movements, and c) Quaker Studies and Christian minorities in the Middle East.

With co-host Brody Levesque