Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology

The available studies on the cultural history of the Black diasporas in the Ottoman Mediterranean have focused on religious and other cultural manifestations, leaving out the inquiry about notions and practices related to gender and sexuality. Taking a cue from works on the Black Atlantic and the Af...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Goikolea-Amiano, Itzea
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/341473
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/341473
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Gender
Sexuality
Slaves/Enslaved
Black Diaspora
Tunisia
Decolonial
Género
Sexualidad
Esclavitud
Diáspora negra
Túnez
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spelling Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical AnthropologyRecordando el archivo sexual y de género de la diáspora negra en Túnez: una perspectiva decolonial a la antropología históricaGoikolea-Amiano, ItzeaGenderSexualitySlaves/EnslavedBlack DiasporaTunisiaDecolonialGéneroSexualidadEsclavitudDiáspora negraTúnezThe available studies on the cultural history of the Black diasporas in the Ottoman Mediterranean have focused on religious and other cultural manifestations, leaving out the inquiry about notions and practices related to gender and sexuality. Taking a cue from works on the Black Atlantic and the African continent, this article investigates the notions of gender and sexuality underlying the sub-Saharan worldviews and offers a template to interpret the subjecthood of enslaved sub-Saharans in the Maghribi diaspora. The first part of the essay lays out a historical contextualisation of the Black diaspora in early nineteenth-century Tunis. Then I take the reference to the practice of al-musahaqa (lesbianism) among the Black slaves in an 1808 Arabic manuscript as a starting point to investigate, by surveying different anthropological studies, whether al-musahaqa can be thought of as pertaining to the archive of sexual epistemology which the enslaved would have taken to Tunisia and, more importantly, to enquire into how we can understand it within a non-anthropocentric historical cosmology-which, ultimately, can contribute to the necessary decolonisation of feminist and queer studies, and history and anthropology more generally.[ES] Los trabajos que versan sobre la historia cultural de las diásporas negras en el Med-iterráneo otomano se han centrado en manifestaciones religiosas y culturales, y han dejado de lado las concep-ciones y prácticas relacionadas con el género y la sexualidad. Partiendo de estudios sobre el Atlántico Negro y el continente africano, este artículo investiga las nociones de género y sexualidad que subyacen a las cosmovisiones sub-saharianas y ofrece un modelo para interpretar la subjetividad de las poblaciones sub-saharianas esclavizadas en la diáspora magrebí. La primera parte del ensayo ofrece una breve contextualización histórica de la diáspora negra en la Túnez de principios del s. XIX. Luego tomo la referencia a la práctica de al-musāḥaqa (lesbianismo) entre esclavas negras que aparece en un manuscrito árabe de 1808 como punto de partida para ver, a través de diferentes estudios antropológicos, si al-musāḥaqa puede ser considerada parte del archivo epistemológico sexual de las poblaciones esclavizadas en Túnez y, sobre todo, para investigar cómo se podría entender en el marco de una cosmología histórica no-antropocéntrica. En última instancia, el artículo pretende contribuir a la necesaria decolonización de los estudios feministas y queer, y de la historia y la antropología de manera más general.This work was supported by the Juan de la Cierva-Incorporación 2020 Grant, MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and the European Union Next-Generation EU/PRTR funds.Peer reviewedCSIC - Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS)Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]2023202320232023info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/341473reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)Ingléshttp://dx.doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.025Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/3414732026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology
Recordando el archivo sexual y de género de la diáspora negra en Túnez: una perspectiva decolonial a la antropología histórica
title Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology
spellingShingle Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology
Goikolea-Amiano, Itzea
Gender
Sexuality
Slaves/Enslaved
Black Diaspora
Tunisia
Decolonial
Género
Sexualidad
Esclavitud
Diáspora negra
Túnez
title_short Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology
title_full Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology
title_fullStr Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology
title_full_unstemmed Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology
title_sort Remembering the Gender and Sexual Archive of the Black Diaspora in Tunisia: a Decolonial Approach to Historical Anthropology
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Goikolea-Amiano, Itzea
author Goikolea-Amiano, Itzea
author_facet Goikolea-Amiano, Itzea
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Gender
Sexuality
Slaves/Enslaved
Black Diaspora
Tunisia
Decolonial
Género
Sexualidad
Esclavitud
Diáspora negra
Túnez
topic Gender
Sexuality
Slaves/Enslaved
Black Diaspora
Tunisia
Decolonial
Género
Sexualidad
Esclavitud
Diáspora negra
Túnez
description The available studies on the cultural history of the Black diasporas in the Ottoman Mediterranean have focused on religious and other cultural manifestations, leaving out the inquiry about notions and practices related to gender and sexuality. Taking a cue from works on the Black Atlantic and the African continent, this article investigates the notions of gender and sexuality underlying the sub-Saharan worldviews and offers a template to interpret the subjecthood of enslaved sub-Saharans in the Maghribi diaspora. The first part of the essay lays out a historical contextualisation of the Black diaspora in early nineteenth-century Tunis. Then I take the reference to the practice of al-musahaqa (lesbianism) among the Black slaves in an 1808 Arabic manuscript as a starting point to investigate, by surveying different anthropological studies, whether al-musahaqa can be thought of as pertaining to the archive of sexual epistemology which the enslaved would have taken to Tunisia and, more importantly, to enquire into how we can understand it within a non-anthropocentric historical cosmology-which, ultimately, can contribute to the necessary decolonisation of feminist and queer studies, and history and anthropology more generally.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023
2023
2023
2023
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/341473
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/341473
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv http://dx.doi.org/10.3989/chdj.2023.025

dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv CSIC - Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS)
publisher.none.fl_str_mv CSIC - Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CCHS)
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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