Unearthing Gender and Sexual Identity through Intersectionality: A Critical Study of We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir

Abstract

This research attends to the complicated aspects of queer women's identities, which comprises a distinctive analysis to interrogate systemic understandings of multiple layers of oppression. It investigates both internal and external societal systems and glides through Eastern and Western cultures to bring out marginalisation through structural inequalities such as patriarchy, heteronormativity, and religious institutions. We attempt to bring out the prejudices and oppressions experienced by Samra Habib as a queer Muslim woman by drawing on the structural inequality in the sociocultural context of Pakistan by analysing her poignant memoir We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir. The study uses intersectionality as the theoretical framework by combining gender and queer theory to bring out the multidimensionality of interdependent identities of gender, sexuality, and religion. Hegemonic institutions such as patriarchy, orthodox religious doctrines and heteronormativity cause unprecedented oppression that may fragment one's identity. Individuals also face marginalisation by family, within their community and society in a larger context. Yet reconciling with multiple identities supports assertiveness and self-empowerment.