Spaces of Surveillance, Sites of Subversion: Queer Subjectivities and Intimate Geopolitics in Palestinian Refugee Camps in Lebanon

ABSTRACT This paper examines how gender identity and queer subjectivities are shaped, surveilled and subverted within the geopolitical confines of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Drawing from 30 in‐depth interviews with queer Palestinian refugees and 21 key informant interviews with humanitarian and UN agency personnel, the study adopts a qualitative, trauma‐informed methodology that centres lived experience and spatial negotiation. Anchored in feminist and critical geopolitical theory, alongside concepts from gender performativity, queer temporalities, intersectionality and spatial theory, the paper conceptualizes camps not merely as humanitarian spaces but as dense sites of legal, social and spatial governance that regulate non‐normative identities. Through thematic analysis, the study reveals how spatial confinement, legal liminality and intimate surveillance regimes operate in tandem to produce hypervisibility, moral policing and exclusion for queer camp residents. Yet, within these constraints, queer individuals enact complex forms of resistance, reclaiming symbolic spaces, forging informal networks and tactically navigating both temporal and spatial regimes. By foregrounding these practices, the paper offers a multi‐scalar account of resilience and refusal in the margins of protracted displacement. It advances queer refugee studies by integrating critical geopolitical perspectives with localized, intersectional analysis and calls for more inclusive humanitarian responses that reckon with the spatial and temporal dimensions of queer refugee life.