About Mathew Gagné

Mathew Gagné is an assistant professor in Sociology and Social Anthropology at Dalhousie University. His current research, entitled Gay Sex and Social Media in Beirut: The Erotic Life of Information, examines the political affects of digital media, specifically sex apps, within the intimate lives of queer Beiruti men. His research is published in the Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communications, Jadaliyya.com and Muftah.org, as well as chapters in Home: Ethnographic Encounters (Bloomsbury) and the forthcoming book Sex in the Middle East and North Africa (Vanderbilt University Press).
Mathew Gagné is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Dalhousie University.
Mathew's website

NBN Episodes hosted by Mathew:

Nick Seaver, "Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation" (U Chicago Press, 2022)

February 2, 2023

Computing Taste

Nick Seaver
Hosted by Mathew Gagné

The people who make music recommender systems have lofty goals: they want to broaden listeners’ horizons and help obscure musicians find audiences, ta…

L. L. Wynn and Angel M. Foster, "Sex in the Middle East and North Africa" (Vanderbilt UP, 2022)

September 8, 2022

Sex in the Middle East and North Africa

L. L. Wynn and Angel M. Foster
Hosted by Mathew Gagné

L. L. Wynn and Angel M. Foster,'s edited volume Sex in the Middle East and North Africa (Vanderbilt UP, 2022) examines the sexual practices, politics,…

Omar Kasmani, "Queer Companions: Religion, Public Intimacy, and Saintly Affects in Pakistan" (Duke UP, 2022)

June 29, 2022

Queer Companions

Omar Kasmani
Hosted by Mathew Gagné

In Queer Companions: Religion, Public Intimacy, and Saintly Affects in Pakistan (Duke UP, 2022), Omar Kasmani theorizes saintly intimacy and the const…

Hatim El-Hibri, "Visions of Beirut: The Urban Life of Media Infrastructure" (Duke UP, 2021)

December 24, 2021

Visions of Beirut

Hatim El-Hibri
Hosted by Mathew Gagné

In Visions of Beirut: The Urban Life of Media Infrastructure (Duke UP, 2021), Hatim El-Hibri explores how the creation and circulation of images has s…

Rebecca L. Stein, "Screen Shots: State Violence on Camera in Israel and Palestine" (Stanford UP, 2021)

October 20, 2021

Screen Shots

Rebecca L. Stein
Hosted by Mathew Gagné

In the last two decades, amid the global spread of smartphones, state killings of civilians have increasingly been captured on the cameras of both bys…