ABSTRACT
Even though the everyday lives of queer religious people have increasingly been explored in academic literature, queer Muslims continue to be depicted as ‘victims’ in need of saving from their culture and religion. In light of this, Chapter 1 outlines the case for an exploration of the lived realities of Indonesian queer Muslims to contest and interrogate the conflation of agency and resistance that has commonly led to perpetuating their representation as subjects devoid of agency. Firstly, the chapter situates the book within two main areas of discussion, namely related to a) decolonising genders and sexualities, and b) religion and queerness. Secondly, it introduces the key concepts to consider prior to reading the book, focusing specifically on identity, subjectivity, subject position, gender and sexual categories, and agency. Lastly, the structure of the book is provided.
