The Queer Arab Glossary
When conventional language does not equip us with the tools to speak about ourselves, we create our own. Slang expresses words and feelings that break down boundaries. It is a form of protest and fills in the gaps.
The Queer Arab Glossary is the first published collection of Arabic LGBTQ+ slang. This bold guide captures the lexicon of the queer Arab community in all its differences, quirks and felicities. Featuring fascinating facts and anecdotes, it contains more than 300 terms in both English and Arabic, ranging from the humorous to the harrowing, serious to tongue-in-cheek, pejorative to endearing. Here, leading queer Arab artists, academics, activists and writers offer insightful essays situating this groundbreaking glossary in a modern social and political context.
With beautiful, witty illustrations, The Queer Arab Glossary is a powerful response to pervasive myths and stereotypes around sexuality and an invitation to take a journey into queerness throughout the Arab world.
Marwan Kaabour is an independent graphic designer and visual artist from Beirut, currently living and working in London. His work with institutions, brands and individuals in the art and cultural sector ranges from creating visual identities, publication and exhibition design, to marketing campaigns, wayfinding systems and art direction for both print and online projects. In 2019, he launched Takweer, a platform that explores queer narratives in Arab history and popular culture.
Reviews
‘The Queer Arab Glossary conjures community, resilience, and breathing space in the form of a book. As a project and offering rooted in archival care and memory work it remains refreshingly committed to laying bricks towards a future of recognition and emancipation. The Queer Arab Glossary is but a beginning, but one that is brimming with aliveness and possibility.’ --AnOther Magazine
'Language reflects and creates reality and Marwan Kaabour’s revolutionary volume insists on and makes possible a future rooted in the recognition of continuous histories.' --Sarah Schulman
'The Queer Arab Glossary [...] really is a work of beauty - insightful, hilarious, sassy and deeply expansive - I've already learnt so much about LGBTQIA+ culture far beyond the narrow confines our incredible community are taught to exist within.' --Dan Glass
‘The spicy guide to queer Arab slang ... The Queer Arab Glossary [is] a playfully illustrated compendium of words from the affectionate to the derogatory.’ -- The Guardian
'A little masterpiece' -- Owen Jones
'The Queer Arab Glossary is a snapshot of the linguistic landscape around queerness in the Arabic-speaking world without sanitising its history. It is not a definitive glossary, but a conversation starter, encouraging others to build upon it and continue documenting queer culture.' -- Dua Lipa's Service95
‘Playful, illuminating, and full of heart, The Queer Arab Glossary is a treasure chest that puts on record a vital part of our queer history. An invaluable time capsule of who and how we are.’ --Saleem Haddad
‘Playful, sexy, fearless … a must read. A dissenting homage to the sexiness and seriousness of queer Arab Life.’ --Amelia Abraham
‘The Queer Arab Glossary brilliantly brings together Arab LGBTQ+ slang, drawing on words from the past and present to create the queer language of the Arab region.’ --L'Orient-Le Jour
‘A groundbreaking anthropological work that celebrates the diverse queer cultures of the Middle East in all their sleazy glory.’ --Interview Magazine
‘The queer community has resiliently regularly created its own language, out of necessity, and The Queer Arab Glossary explores this journey in the Arabic-speaking world.’ --Gay Times
‘The Queer Arab Glossary dismantles the myth of a monolithic queer Arab identity. This book shows how diverse and creative they are – its humour, defiance, and the power of self-invention.’ --Fucking Young!
‘Powerful … [Kaabour] brings under the spotlight a rich tapestry of spoken Arabic queer words in many of its dialects and vernaculars … It deserves a much wider audience than queer Arabs as a first step in slang Arabic and an ode to queerness in the Arab world.’ --The Markaz Review
'Kaabour has curated a necessary intervention in understanding queer Arabness on our own terms.' --Them
