Queering Tehran: Discovering Gay Rap in Iran
Published
1-1-2015
Type of Work
Book Chapter
Abstract
Not long ago, on a night in 2011, I was wandering through the streets of Tehran close to 11 pm. Since I was conducting research on the underground rap scene there, I actually was awaiting a contact who had promised to take me to a home studio in order to meet some female rap artists. While waiting, I spotted two young men in a dark street corner hugging each other and muttering words I could not make out. Before my curiosity could be satisfied, the rapper I was expecting had arrived. I noticed that he was talking on the phone as he approached me. He asked if we could cancel our plans while also explaining that his cousin was in trouble. A few minutes later, one of the guys I had noticed in the dark street corner hopped in the car. He was crying and saying he just broke up with someone.
This moment was my first encounter with a gay rapper in Iran. Here we all were: the bereft cousin who continued crying; my acquaintance, the rapper, who was driving and smoking simultaneously (while also talking to his girlfriend in between listening to his cousin’s breakup story); and me.
This paper is an ethnographic and historical examination of queerness in Iran and among hip-hoppers.
Notes
This book chapter is a part of a master's thesis titled: "An ethnographic Study of Iranian hip-hop subculture" completed in 2012, originally in Persian.
Citation
Golpushnezhad, E. (2015). Queering Tehran: Discovering Gay Rap in Iran. Lost Histories of Youth Culture, New York: Peter Lang, 123-140.