Queering the Medieval Mediterranean : Transcultural Sea of Sex, Gender, Identity, and Culture

Peter E. Thompson, Ph.D. (1999), Penn State University, is an Associate Professor at Queen's University. He has written extensively on Juan Rana, the alias of Cosme Pérez, a popular actor between the years 1617 and 1672 (Spanish Golden Age).

In ten essays authored by an international team of scholars, this volume explores queer readings of Western and Eastern Mediterranean Europe, Northern Africa, Islam and Arabic traditions. The contributors enter into a dialogue, comparing cases from opposite sides of the Mediterranean, in order to analyze the forgotten exchange of sexualities that was brought forth through the Mediterranean and its bordering landmasses during the Middle Ages. This collection questions the hypothesis that distinct cultures treated sexuality and the "other" differently. The volume initiates the conversation around queerness and sexuality on these trade routes, and problematizes the differences between various Mediterranean cultures in order to argue that through both queerness and sexuality, neighboring civilizations had access to, and knowledge of, common shared experiences.