Contested Borders

Contested Borders: Queer Politics and Cultural Translation in Contemporary Francophone Writing from the Maghreb, Volume 1, provides a rigorous examination of dissident sexualities in Africa. William J. Spurlin explores how recent francophone autofictional writing from the Maghreb represents same-sex desire. This literary criticism analyzes the intersection of long-established gender traditions with global discourses of queerness. The text focuses on how the experiences of emigration and settlement in France shape new forms of sexual dissidence and identity.

The study specifically examines the works of Rachid O., Abdellah Taïa, Eyet-Chékib Djaziri, and Nina Bouraoui. Spurlin investigates how these authors use narrative reflexivity and translation to navigate incommensurable spaces of queerness. By writing in French, these creators inflect a European language with North African discursive turns to express gender and sexual alterity. Contested Borders, Volume 1, demonstrates how this queer translational praxis destabilizes established categories across both the Maghreb and Europe.