Queering Debt

A second strand of my research is grounded in heterodox feminist economics, economic sociology and social reproduction theories. In a collaborative research project with colleague Hossein Cheaito, we explore Lebanon’s financial collapse through the lens of LGBTQ+ experiences. Employing mixed methods, including qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey, the research posits "Queer debt" simultaneously as a methodological framework for the analysis of Lebanon’s politico-economic crises as well as a conceptual lens into the queer experiences of crisis. ‘Queer debt’ emerges at this juncture as both as a mechanism of economic extraction and one of subversive resistance. The insights help clarify the connections between Lebanon's predatory economic model, high levels of indebtedness and financialization, and the deepening precarity and informalization of Queer lives. The value of this research lies in its capacity to unsettle and dismantle the ordinary, normalizing, and settled mechanisms underpinning contemporary financial capitalism, and an opportunity to rethink debt relations and their place within heteronormative capitalist structures. Our research is culminating in a forthcoming article titled “Queering Debt: Towards a Queer Political Economic Analysis of Lebanon’s Financial Collapse,” that will be published in a special issue on “Expanding LGBTI Economic Development & Empowerment” with in the Journal of Feminist Economics.