Transgender citizenship in Lebanon: Navigating socio-legal and medical constructions of gender in Lebanon's judicial order and healthcare system
Lead Research Organisation:
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
Department Name: Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
Abstract
This doctoral project comprises a historical tracing of the local, regional and transnational networks impacting negotiations over categories of sex and gender by Lebanese state institutions and agencies throughout the 20th century. It will further consider how the applications of these categories have impacted the 'dysphoric' citizenship experiences of trans*, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals, within a legal landscape in which gender transition has been simultaneously legitimated and criminalised by different arms of the state.
Research questions:
1. How have the interactions of medical, legal and popular ontologies of sex and gender historically affected the standing of trans*, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals within the law in Lebanon?
2. What social, political and technoscientific networks are implicated in the formulation and dissemination of the ontologies of sex and gender that have been mobilised by medical professionals and state actors in encounters with trans*, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals?
In investigating the history of trans* citizenship in Lebanon, this project aims at a genealogical study of sex and gender categories within Lebanon's legal and medical institutions. In my methodological approach, I draw on Halberstam's (1998) 'scavenger methodology', a queer approach which refuses disciplinary coherence, in order to be able collect information about subjects excluded from more conventional studies. My methodology therefore takes a multi-stranded approach which includes ethnography, interviews and research within diplomatic, social media, newspaper and medical archives. Theoretically, I engage with scholarship on 'history from below', as it has been applied to the MENA region, as well as the rich body of literature on microhistory, which will inform my approach to using case studies in my work. I take a broadly poststructuralist approach to historical analysis. The historical scope of this project extends from the beginning of the French mandate (1923), during which period much of the legislation currently defining the legal administrative contours of trans* citizenship was laid down, to 1992, the year in which the first ruling by a judge refusing gender recognition for a transgender woman was passed.
Research questions:
1. How have the interactions of medical, legal and popular ontologies of sex and gender historically affected the standing of trans*, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals within the law in Lebanon?
2. What social, political and technoscientific networks are implicated in the formulation and dissemination of the ontologies of sex and gender that have been mobilised by medical professionals and state actors in encounters with trans*, intersex and gender non-conforming individuals?
In investigating the history of trans* citizenship in Lebanon, this project aims at a genealogical study of sex and gender categories within Lebanon's legal and medical institutions. In my methodological approach, I draw on Halberstam's (1998) 'scavenger methodology', a queer approach which refuses disciplinary coherence, in order to be able collect information about subjects excluded from more conventional studies. My methodology therefore takes a multi-stranded approach which includes ethnography, interviews and research within diplomatic, social media, newspaper and medical archives. Theoretically, I engage with scholarship on 'history from below', as it has been applied to the MENA region, as well as the rich body of literature on microhistory, which will inform my approach to using case studies in my work. I take a broadly poststructuralist approach to historical analysis. The historical scope of this project extends from the beginning of the French mandate (1923), during which period much of the legislation currently defining the legal administrative contours of trans* citizenship was laid down, to 1992, the year in which the first ruling by a judge refusing gender recognition for a transgender woman was passed.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Hannah Cowdell (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ES/P000630/1 | 30/09/2017 | 29/09/2028 | |||
| 2592432 | Studentship | ES/P000630/1 | 30/09/2021 | 18/05/2026 | Hannah Cowdell |