When terms such as LGBT and queer cross borders they evolve and adjust to different political thinking. Translation is about crossing borders, but some languages travel more than others. Sexualities are usually translated from the core to the periphery, imposing Western LGBT identities onto the rest of the world. Many sexual identities are not translatable into English, and markers of modernity override native terminologies. Translating sexuality in world politics forces us to confront issues of emancipation, colonisation, and sovereignty, in which global frameworks are locally embraced and/or resisted. Translating sexualities is a political act entangled in power politics, imperialism and foreign intervention. This book explores the entanglements of sex and tongue in international relations from Kyrgyzstan to Nepal, Japan to Tajikistan, Kurdistan to Amazonia.
Sexuality and Translation in World Politics
Edited by: Caroline Cottet and Manuela Lavinas Picq
Contributors: Ibtisam Ahmed, Soheil Asefi, Laura Bensoussan, Lisa Caviglia, Ioana Fotache, Karolina Kluczewska, Mohira Suyarkulova, Jo Teut, Josi Tikuna, Cai Wilkinson and Diako Yazdani.
Table of contents
INTRODUCTION
– Manuela L. Picq and Caroline Cottet
THE NAMELESSNESS OF LIVES: WHAT’S NOT IN A NAME?
– Cai Wilkinson
JAPANESE ‘LGBT BOOM’ DISCOURSE AND ITS DISCONTENTS
– Ioana Fotache
TRANSLATING ‘QUEER’ INTO (KYRGYZSTANI) RUSSIAN
– Mohira Suyarkulova
INDIGENOUS SEXUALITIES: RESISTING CONQUEST AND TRANSLATION
– Manuela L. Picq and Josi Tikuna
DOING SEX RIGHT IN NEPAL: ACTIVIST LANGUAGE AND SEXED/ GENDERED EXPECTATIONS
– Lisa Caviglia
ASEXUALITY, THE INTERNET, AND THE CHANGING LEXICON OF SEXUALITY
– Jo Teut
BETWEEN EMANCIPATION AND OPPRESSION: THE BODIES OF KURDISH LIBERATION
– An interview with Diako Yazdani, conducted by Manuela L. Picq
DECOLONISING QUEER BANGLADESH: NEOLIBERALISM AGAINST LGBTQ+ EMANCIPATION
– Ibtisam Ahmed
DONORS’ LGBT SUPPORT IN TAJIKISTAN: PROMOTING DIVERSITY
OR PROVOKING VIOLENCE?
– Karolina Kluczewska
THE COMMODIFIED QUEER SUBLIME
– Soheil Asefi