Islamicate Sexualities: Translations across Temporal Geographies of Desire explores different genealogies of sexuality and questions some of the theoretical emphases and epistemic assumptions affecting current histories of sexuality. Concerned with the dynamic interplay between cultural constructions of gender and sexuality, the anthology moves across disciplinary fields, integrating literary criticism with social and cultural history, and establishes a dialogue between historians (Kathryn Babayan, Frédéric Lagrange, Afsaneh Najmabadi, and Everett Rowson), comparative literary scholars (Sahar Amer and Leyla Rouhi), and critical theorists of sexualities (Valerie Traub, Brad Epps, and Dina al-Kassim).

As a whole, the anthology challenges Middle Eastern Studies with questions that have arisen in recent studies of sexualities, bringing into conversation Euro-American scholarship of sexuality with that of scholars engaged in studies of sexualities across a vast cultural (Iberian, Arabic, and Iranian) and temporal field (from the tenth century to the medieval and the modern).

Contents
Preface vii 
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1 The Past Is a Foreign Country? The Times and Spaces of 
Islamicate Sexuality Studies 1 
valerie traub 
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2 A Handsome Boy among Those Barbarous Turks: 
Cervantes's Muslims and the Art and Science of Desire 41 
leyla rouhi 
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3 Cross-Dressing and Female Same-Sex Marriage in 
Medieval French and Arabic Literatures 72 
sahar amer 
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4 Comparison, Competition, and Cross-Dressing: Cross-
Cultural Analysis in a Contested World 114 
brad epps 
5 The Obscenity of the Vizier 161 
frederic lagrange 
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6 Homoerotic Liaisons among the Mamluk Elite in Late 
Medieval Egypt and Syria 204 
everett k. rowson 
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7 "In Spirit We Ate Each Other's Sorrow": Female 
Companionship in Seventeenth-Century Safavi Iran 239 
kathryn babayan 
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8 Types, Acts, or What? Regulation of Sexuality in 
Nineteenth-Century Iran 275 
afsaneh najmabadi 
Epilogue 297 
dina al-kassim 
Bibliography 341
About the Authors 365