Abstract

This is an ethnography of asexuality in Lebanon, converging the experiences and stories of people who identify as asexual Arabs and Muslims through remote interviews and digital observation. Emerging sexual identities tend to clash with and challenge pre-existing notions of presence, particularly in traditional communities, where all rulings and decisions are taken based on religion. Lebanon is unique in its case that it is at once dubbed the most liberal country of the Arab world, yet the shadow of its 18 diverse sects and religions continues to loom over the lives of the people there. This research looks at the way Arab asexuals raised in Muslim communities in Lebanon (including refugees from Palestine and Syria who reside there) express themselves, which languages and labels they adopt, and if there are any adequate equivalents to these words and expressions in their mother tongue. This research asks: In what linguistic forms and under which circumstances do asexuals exist in the Arab World? How do they conceptualise their experience in the language of gender and sexuality? How is it mediated into their own languages?
The methodology used to collect the data was online participant observation, online interviews, digital ethnography, and auto-ethnography. The researcher has coined the term “welcomed lurking” to explain this merger between digital ethnography and auto-ethnography. Through the lenses of language, history, and religion, this thesis explores identity-making and the discomfort that comes with it. Ultimately, this thesis will serve as an exploration of why experiences of asexual Arabs are marginalized and erased, and what forms of expressions exist for them as an alternative.