Paper short abstract:

Drawing on my research on the subject of sexuality, this presentation analyzes emergence of Queer activism in Tunisia so as to understand the trajectories of the revolution from basic economic demands to sexuality as a political category.

Paper long abstract:

When we look back at the 2011 Tunisian revolution, we cannot neglect that it needed a self-immolation of the body as trace of injustice to inflame the masses. In addition to this embodiment of the revolution, another marker of this uprising is the emergence of demands related to sexuality. As part of the demand for change, queer activists called for the removal of laws criminalizing non-normative genders and sexualities. They also established different Queer organizations in the post-revolutionary Tunisia as actors within the larger Tunisian civil society. In their advocacy and community building, queer activists speak of “Queer revolution”. Drawing on my research on the subject of sexuality, this presentation analyzes emergence of Queer activism in Tunisia so as to understand the trajectories of the revolution from basic economic demands to sexuality as a political category. In order to appreciate what is meant by queer(ing) revolution, the talk also looks at how curating cultural events and cultural productions play a role in the expansion of the revolutionary moment beyond normative bodies and times. I will show that queering the revolution does not only sustain the revolutionary flames like in the struggle to decriminalize non-heteronormative sexualities, but also stretches the revolutionary aspirations as well as the meaning of justice. If Bouazizi’s body sparked the revolution, the fire is carried in the dreams, imaginations and practices of freedom by queer Tunisians.