Abstract:Rather than attempting to recover African same-sex practices from the past, we probe the... more Abstract:Rather than attempting to recover African same-sex practices from the past, we probe the kinds of discursive protocols that can be implemented to uncover queer African archives, defined as methods and movements. In this process, we reconceptualize a transnational queer archive that remains vigilant against dominant taxonomies and actively connected to its political present and future. Because queer African subjects are (dis)located at the junction of multiple sociocultural traditions and geographies, we approach the queer African archive as both an elusive and dynamic site of knowledge production that calls for cross-disciplinary methodologies.
Prison same-sex sexualities have largely gone unnoticed in Malawi, an African nation associated w... more Prison same-sex sexualities have largely gone unnoticed in Malawi, an African nation associated with politicized homophobia. The term 'politicized homophobia' refers to political elites' public hostility toward same-sex sexualities, gender variance, and gender and sexual diversity activism. In a context typified by scrutiny of same-sex sexualities, it is surprising that certain same-sex sexual practices, specifically prison same-sex sexualities, escaped rebuke and attention in news media, which play an important role in circulating discourses of politicized homophobia in contemporary African nations. Using the case of prison sex in Malawi, this article asserts that politicized homophobia has verifiable limits because not all negative discourses about same-sex sexualities agglomerate into politicized homophobia. The essay draws on an analysis of 109 Malawian newspaper articles published between 1995 and 2016 that mention prison sex.
Across the African continent, antisodomy laws are increasingly being repealed. Yet uneven support... more Across the African continent, antisodomy laws are increasingly being repealed. Yet uneven support for the rescission of antisodomy laws in other African countries remains. In this essay, we treat the retention of antisodomy laws in Namibia as an unwanted colonial legacy that serves as a reminder of the unfinished business of decolonization. We explore how politicized homophobia in Namibia functions as a state tool by continually reinscribing inherited antisodomy laws to promote a heteronorma-tive future. We explore why these laws remain on the books in spite of the government's policy of nonenforcement and consider their impact on the male prison population. Finally, we consider decolonization as a potential tool for collective mobilization in Namibia.
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0164 Education 2007 Ph.D., Sociology, University of Pittsburgh (Ph.D. certif... more Cincinnati, OH 45221-0164 Education 2007 Ph.D., Sociology, University of Pittsburgh (Ph.D. certificates in Cultural Studies and Women's Studies) 2003 M.A., Sociology, University of Pittsburgh 2001 M.A., English, University of Pittsburgh 1998 B.A., English and Spanish, University of Oklahoma (summa cum laude) 1997 Certificate,
Research on political homophobia in contemporary African nations tends to focus on the legal, pol... more Research on political homophobia in contemporary African nations tends to focus on the legal, political, and social consequences of such homophobia. However, this work remains limited in its treatment of the rise of political homophobia and mobilisation against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. This article redirects such research by concentrating on the indigenous origins of mobilisation against LGBT rights in Liberia. Focusing on the efforts of the New Citizens Movement (NCM), an antigay movement organisation, we outline how NCM pursued a 'politics of preemption' to prevent pro-LGBT rights legislation and organisation from taking root in the country. By 'politics of preemption', we mean mobilisation intended to ensure that another movement's imagined future does not materialise. The politics of preemption captures a little-understood feature of the dynamics of opposing movements: mobilisation to preempt the rise of another social movement. We analyse semi-structured interviews we conducted with 45 Liberians, including anti-LGBT activists and supporters and pro-LGBT activists and supporters, and dozens of articles from Liberian newspapers to trace NCM's politics of preemption as a strategy used by opposing movements.
African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) organizations face vari... more African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) organizations face various strategic dilemmas in contexts characterized by political hostility to gender and sexual dissidents. In Malawi, one such context, we examine how an LGBTIQ social movement organization (SMO) in Malawi, the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), navigated one particular strategic dilemma—the dilemma of whether to adopt a less politicized public-health approach or a more nimble, grassroots-oriented, and social-justice approach to their advocacy work—and the consequences of the organization’s strategic decisions. Scholars interpret these approaches as signifying differential political engagement among organizations, with the social-justice approach indicating political engagement and the public-health approach signaling political disengagement. This difference has led critics to argue that a public-health approach is poorly suited to generating social and legal reform because it depoliticizes LGBTIQ issues over time, while a social-justice approach exerts constant pressure on political and religious elites. Drawing on qualitative interview data with Malawian LGBTIQ activists and news media data reflecting public debate around homosexuality in the country, we illuminate how this SMO metamorphosed from an organization ostensibly focused only on public health and HIV/AIDS to one that advances social justice for gender and sexual dissidents and argue for an understanding of the indigenous development of a hybrid strategy integrating the public-health and social-justice approaches.
Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this arti... more Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this article explores how cultural definitions of sex and sexuality affect African sexual minority men's perceptions of rape, non-consensual sex and unwanted sex in Malawi, a country in which same-sex sexual practices are stigmatised and punished. We analyze two divergent accounts of unwanted sex offered by two gay Malawian men the first author 10 interviewed in 2012. Feminist and queer theoretical insights about representing the agency of African gender and sexual minorities guide our inquiry. Our analysis shows how activist socialisation can intervene in and reshape how African sexual minority men perceive and name unwanted and/or coercive sex. 15 30
This chapter considers how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists in Namibia an... more This chapter considers how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists in Namibia and South Africa appropriate discourses of decolonization associated with African national liberation movements. I examine the legal, cultural, and political possibilities associated LGBT activists' framing of law reform as a decolonization project. LGBT activists identified laws governing gender and sexual nonconformity as in particular need of reform. Using data from daily ethnographic observation of LGBT movement organizations, in-depth qualitative interviews with LGBT activists, and newspaper articles about political homophobia, I elucidate how Namibian and South African LGBT activists conceptualize movement challenges to antigay laws as decolonization.
The chapter shows how studying African gender and sexual diversity movements allows scholars to r... more The chapter shows how studying African gender and sexual diversity movements allows scholars to reorient “northern” social movement theorizing in three ways. First, these movements challenge the distinction between “politics” and “culture.” Second, African gender and sexual diversity movements face complicated dilemmas related to the transnational patronage and funding. Third, African gender and sexual diversity movements disrupt the notion that queer movements are “identity movements,” an argument that overlooks gender and sexual diversity organizations’ survival efforts. This chapter constitutes one of the first essays synthesizing the lessons from African gender and sexual diversity movements for social movement theorizing.
The meanings of transgender invisibility in Namibian and South African lesbian, gay, bisexual, an... more The meanings of transgender invisibility in Namibian and South African lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements differ from those in LGBT movements in the United States. LGBT activists in Namibia and South Africa voluntarily included transgender rights and persons in the movement beginning in the mid-1990s, yet few constituents identified as transgender. Transgender invisibility in these movements indicates the discrepancy between collective and lived personal identities. Drawing on ethnographic observation of Namibian and South African LGBT activist organizations in 2005–06 and fifty-six interviews with LGBT activists, the article analyzes the contours of transgender invisibility within the Namibian and South African LGBT movements. A focus on transgender invisibility in LGBT movement organizations in Namibia and South Africa illuminates the uneven reception of identity terms and the identity work that LGBT activists in southern Africa perform to encourage constituents to align personal identities with prevailing collective-identity terms.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activists face significant opposition in di... more Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activists face significant opposition in different nations in sub-Saharan Africa. African lesbians and gay men fear being arrested and imprisoned for violating laws prohibiting same-sex sexual relationships. In addition, African LGBT rights activists confront antigay hostility from political, religious, and traditional leaders. Activists championing unpopular causes, such as LGBT rights, sometimes benefit from forging solidary partnerships with sympathetic bystanders or social movements. In different African nations, LGBT activist organizations have formed partnerships with HIV/AIDS, human rights, and women’s rights movements. However, sympathizers can experience steep costs for supporting LGBT rights organizations. In 2010, Malawian state leaders began politicizing homosexuality, denouncing LGBT rights activism. Using the case of contemporary LGBT rights organizing in Malawi, I track the obstacles that prevent HIV/AIDS, human rights, and women’s rights organizations from supporting LGBT rights. In this environment, political homophobia ensnares not only LGBT activist organizations, but also HIV/AIDS, human rights, and women’s rights movement organizations. Drawing on 52 interviews I conducted with feminist, HIV/AIDS, human rights, and LGBT activists in Malawi in mid-2012, I probe how political homophobia polarized civil society and hampered the campaigns of different social movement organizations. My research demonstrates how political homophobia creates divisions among African social movements.
Questions of sexuality often remain peripheral to both the agendas of African civil society organ... more Questions of sexuality often remain peripheral to both the agendas of African civil society organizations (CSOs) and those who study civil society operations in different African nations. However, in the last two decades, political and religious leaders in a number of African nations have attacked sexual diversity. In response to the threats of state repression against gender and sexual minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Africans have formed activist organizations to support LGBT constituents and to promote gender and sexual minority rights as human rights. This chapter explores the form and content of contemporary African “sexual diversity struggles,” a term that refers to efforts to defend gender and sexual dissidence and to promote laws and policies that affirm gender and sexual diversity. This chapter contextualizes the rise of sexual diversity struggles throughout Africa and profiles the involvement of different civil society actors such as LGBT movement organizations, HIV/AIDS nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), women’s rights NGOs, and faith-based NGOs, in these struggles. Different CSOs lobby lawmakers to decriminalize same-sex sexualities, shelter gender and sexual minorities from hostile opponents, and develop local and transnational networks of sympathetic bystanders, lawmakers, foreign donors, and diplomats. This chapter pays particular attention to the transnational dimensions of African sexual diversity struggles and how local CSOs navigate the tensions and rewards that accompany transnational advocacy around LGBT rights.
Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this arti... more Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this article explores how cultural definitions of sex and sexuality affect African sexual minority men's perceptions of rape, non-consensual sex and unwanted sex in Malawi, a country in which same-sex sexual practices are stigmatised and punished. We analyze two divergent accounts of unwanted sex offered by two gay Malawian men the first author interviewed in 2012. Feminist and queer theoretical insights about representing the agency of African gender and sexual minorities guide our inquiry. Our analysis shows how activist socialisation can intervene in and reshape how African sexual minority men perceive and name unwanted and/or coercive sex.
Since the late 1990s, Namibian gender and sexual dissidents have publicly challenged homophobic s... more Since the late 1990s, Namibian gender and sexual dissidents have publicly challenged homophobic statements made by leaders of the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO), the country’s ruling political party. In this article, I treat Namibian gender and sexual diversity organizing as a decolonization movement contesting SWAPO’s grip over the trajectory of decolonization. To illustrate how gender and sexuality movements operate as decolonization movements, I analyze how feminist and LGBT activists have responded to SWAPO leaders’ political homophobia since 1995. I draw on an analysis of twenty-eight in-person, qualitative interviews with Namibian LGBT activists and four months of ethnographic observation of the activities of Sister Namibia, a feminist organization, and The Rainbow Project, an LGBT movement organization, that I conducted in 2006. I also analyzed 338 Namibian newspaper articles published between 1995 and 2010 that mention homosexuality, antihomosexual sentiments, or LGBT activism.
Se basant sur un travail ethnographique comprenant des entretiens et documents rassemblés en 2005... more Se basant sur un travail ethnographique comprenant des entretiens et documents rassemblés en 2005 et 2006, cet article utilise le concept de « ventriloquie provisoire » dans l’étude de l’inclusion proactive des personnes et revendications transgenres par des organisations du mouvement LGBT en Namibie et en Afrique du Sud. Pratiquant cette « ventriloquie provisoire », les militants LGBT namibiens et sud-africains prennent publiquement la parole au nom d’un groupe transgenre invisible, pendant une période donnée, en imaginant quels seraient les besoins et intérêts du groupe non encore matérialisé. L’article étudie trois épisodes différents au sein d’organisations LGBT en Namibie et en Afrique du Sud, mettant en lumière la mécanique de l’inclusion transgenre dans chaque cas.
Qualitative sociologists confront thorny ethical issues, many of which are beyond the scope of in... more Qualitative sociologists confront thorny ethical issues, many of which are beyond the scope of institutional review board procedures and protocols. This essay presents the broad themes of this special issue by reviewing major approaches to scholarly ethical practice, offering a set of orienting propositions, and introducing the contributions of and connections among the articles that follow.
Abstract:Rather than attempting to recover African same-sex practices from the past, we probe the... more Abstract:Rather than attempting to recover African same-sex practices from the past, we probe the kinds of discursive protocols that can be implemented to uncover queer African archives, defined as methods and movements. In this process, we reconceptualize a transnational queer archive that remains vigilant against dominant taxonomies and actively connected to its political present and future. Because queer African subjects are (dis)located at the junction of multiple sociocultural traditions and geographies, we approach the queer African archive as both an elusive and dynamic site of knowledge production that calls for cross-disciplinary methodologies.
Prison same-sex sexualities have largely gone unnoticed in Malawi, an African nation associated w... more Prison same-sex sexualities have largely gone unnoticed in Malawi, an African nation associated with politicized homophobia. The term 'politicized homophobia' refers to political elites' public hostility toward same-sex sexualities, gender variance, and gender and sexual diversity activism. In a context typified by scrutiny of same-sex sexualities, it is surprising that certain same-sex sexual practices, specifically prison same-sex sexualities, escaped rebuke and attention in news media, which play an important role in circulating discourses of politicized homophobia in contemporary African nations. Using the case of prison sex in Malawi, this article asserts that politicized homophobia has verifiable limits because not all negative discourses about same-sex sexualities agglomerate into politicized homophobia. The essay draws on an analysis of 109 Malawian newspaper articles published between 1995 and 2016 that mention prison sex.
Across the African continent, antisodomy laws are increasingly being repealed. Yet uneven support... more Across the African continent, antisodomy laws are increasingly being repealed. Yet uneven support for the rescission of antisodomy laws in other African countries remains. In this essay, we treat the retention of antisodomy laws in Namibia as an unwanted colonial legacy that serves as a reminder of the unfinished business of decolonization. We explore how politicized homophobia in Namibia functions as a state tool by continually reinscribing inherited antisodomy laws to promote a heteronorma-tive future. We explore why these laws remain on the books in spite of the government's policy of nonenforcement and consider their impact on the male prison population. Finally, we consider decolonization as a potential tool for collective mobilization in Namibia.
Cincinnati, OH 45221-0164 Education 2007 Ph.D., Sociology, University of Pittsburgh (Ph.D. certif... more Cincinnati, OH 45221-0164 Education 2007 Ph.D., Sociology, University of Pittsburgh (Ph.D. certificates in Cultural Studies and Women's Studies) 2003 M.A., Sociology, University of Pittsburgh 2001 M.A., English, University of Pittsburgh 1998 B.A., English and Spanish, University of Oklahoma (summa cum laude) 1997 Certificate,
Research on political homophobia in contemporary African nations tends to focus on the legal, pol... more Research on political homophobia in contemporary African nations tends to focus on the legal, political, and social consequences of such homophobia. However, this work remains limited in its treatment of the rise of political homophobia and mobilisation against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights. This article redirects such research by concentrating on the indigenous origins of mobilisation against LGBT rights in Liberia. Focusing on the efforts of the New Citizens Movement (NCM), an antigay movement organisation, we outline how NCM pursued a 'politics of preemption' to prevent pro-LGBT rights legislation and organisation from taking root in the country. By 'politics of preemption', we mean mobilisation intended to ensure that another movement's imagined future does not materialise. The politics of preemption captures a little-understood feature of the dynamics of opposing movements: mobilisation to preempt the rise of another social movement. We analyse semi-structured interviews we conducted with 45 Liberians, including anti-LGBT activists and supporters and pro-LGBT activists and supporters, and dozens of articles from Liberian newspapers to trace NCM's politics of preemption as a strategy used by opposing movements.
African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) organizations face vari... more African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) organizations face various strategic dilemmas in contexts characterized by political hostility to gender and sexual dissidents. In Malawi, one such context, we examine how an LGBTIQ social movement organization (SMO) in Malawi, the Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), navigated one particular strategic dilemma—the dilemma of whether to adopt a less politicized public-health approach or a more nimble, grassroots-oriented, and social-justice approach to their advocacy work—and the consequences of the organization’s strategic decisions. Scholars interpret these approaches as signifying differential political engagement among organizations, with the social-justice approach indicating political engagement and the public-health approach signaling political disengagement. This difference has led critics to argue that a public-health approach is poorly suited to generating social and legal reform because it depoliticizes LGBTIQ issues over time, while a social-justice approach exerts constant pressure on political and religious elites. Drawing on qualitative interview data with Malawian LGBTIQ activists and news media data reflecting public debate around homosexuality in the country, we illuminate how this SMO metamorphosed from an organization ostensibly focused only on public health and HIV/AIDS to one that advances social justice for gender and sexual dissidents and argue for an understanding of the indigenous development of a hybrid strategy integrating the public-health and social-justice approaches.
Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this arti... more Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this article explores how cultural definitions of sex and sexuality affect African sexual minority men's perceptions of rape, non-consensual sex and unwanted sex in Malawi, a country in which same-sex sexual practices are stigmatised and punished. We analyze two divergent accounts of unwanted sex offered by two gay Malawian men the first author 10 interviewed in 2012. Feminist and queer theoretical insights about representing the agency of African gender and sexual minorities guide our inquiry. Our analysis shows how activist socialisation can intervene in and reshape how African sexual minority men perceive and name unwanted and/or coercive sex. 15 30
This chapter considers how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists in Namibia an... more This chapter considers how lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) activists in Namibia and South Africa appropriate discourses of decolonization associated with African national liberation movements. I examine the legal, cultural, and political possibilities associated LGBT activists' framing of law reform as a decolonization project. LGBT activists identified laws governing gender and sexual nonconformity as in particular need of reform. Using data from daily ethnographic observation of LGBT movement organizations, in-depth qualitative interviews with LGBT activists, and newspaper articles about political homophobia, I elucidate how Namibian and South African LGBT activists conceptualize movement challenges to antigay laws as decolonization.
The chapter shows how studying African gender and sexual diversity movements allows scholars to r... more The chapter shows how studying African gender and sexual diversity movements allows scholars to reorient “northern” social movement theorizing in three ways. First, these movements challenge the distinction between “politics” and “culture.” Second, African gender and sexual diversity movements face complicated dilemmas related to the transnational patronage and funding. Third, African gender and sexual diversity movements disrupt the notion that queer movements are “identity movements,” an argument that overlooks gender and sexual diversity organizations’ survival efforts. This chapter constitutes one of the first essays synthesizing the lessons from African gender and sexual diversity movements for social movement theorizing.
The meanings of transgender invisibility in Namibian and South African lesbian, gay, bisexual, an... more The meanings of transgender invisibility in Namibian and South African lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements differ from those in LGBT movements in the United States. LGBT activists in Namibia and South Africa voluntarily included transgender rights and persons in the movement beginning in the mid-1990s, yet few constituents identified as transgender. Transgender invisibility in these movements indicates the discrepancy between collective and lived personal identities. Drawing on ethnographic observation of Namibian and South African LGBT activist organizations in 2005–06 and fifty-six interviews with LGBT activists, the article analyzes the contours of transgender invisibility within the Namibian and South African LGBT movements. A focus on transgender invisibility in LGBT movement organizations in Namibia and South Africa illuminates the uneven reception of identity terms and the identity work that LGBT activists in southern Africa perform to encourage constituents to align personal identities with prevailing collective-identity terms.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activists face significant opposition in di... more Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights activists face significant opposition in different nations in sub-Saharan Africa. African lesbians and gay men fear being arrested and imprisoned for violating laws prohibiting same-sex sexual relationships. In addition, African LGBT rights activists confront antigay hostility from political, religious, and traditional leaders. Activists championing unpopular causes, such as LGBT rights, sometimes benefit from forging solidary partnerships with sympathetic bystanders or social movements. In different African nations, LGBT activist organizations have formed partnerships with HIV/AIDS, human rights, and women’s rights movements. However, sympathizers can experience steep costs for supporting LGBT rights organizations. In 2010, Malawian state leaders began politicizing homosexuality, denouncing LGBT rights activism. Using the case of contemporary LGBT rights organizing in Malawi, I track the obstacles that prevent HIV/AIDS, human rights, and women’s rights organizations from supporting LGBT rights. In this environment, political homophobia ensnares not only LGBT activist organizations, but also HIV/AIDS, human rights, and women’s rights movement organizations. Drawing on 52 interviews I conducted with feminist, HIV/AIDS, human rights, and LGBT activists in Malawi in mid-2012, I probe how political homophobia polarized civil society and hampered the campaigns of different social movement organizations. My research demonstrates how political homophobia creates divisions among African social movements.
Questions of sexuality often remain peripheral to both the agendas of African civil society organ... more Questions of sexuality often remain peripheral to both the agendas of African civil society organizations (CSOs) and those who study civil society operations in different African nations. However, in the last two decades, political and religious leaders in a number of African nations have attacked sexual diversity. In response to the threats of state repression against gender and sexual minorities, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Africans have formed activist organizations to support LGBT constituents and to promote gender and sexual minority rights as human rights. This chapter explores the form and content of contemporary African “sexual diversity struggles,” a term that refers to efforts to defend gender and sexual dissidence and to promote laws and policies that affirm gender and sexual diversity. This chapter contextualizes the rise of sexual diversity struggles throughout Africa and profiles the involvement of different civil society actors such as LGBT movement organizations, HIV/AIDS nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), women’s rights NGOs, and faith-based NGOs, in these struggles. Different CSOs lobby lawmakers to decriminalize same-sex sexualities, shelter gender and sexual minorities from hostile opponents, and develop local and transnational networks of sympathetic bystanders, lawmakers, foreign donors, and diplomats. This chapter pays particular attention to the transnational dimensions of African sexual diversity struggles and how local CSOs navigate the tensions and rewards that accompany transnational advocacy around LGBT rights.
Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this arti... more Marshalling research about male rape and unwanted sex in contemporary African contexts, this article explores how cultural definitions of sex and sexuality affect African sexual minority men's perceptions of rape, non-consensual sex and unwanted sex in Malawi, a country in which same-sex sexual practices are stigmatised and punished. We analyze two divergent accounts of unwanted sex offered by two gay Malawian men the first author interviewed in 2012. Feminist and queer theoretical insights about representing the agency of African gender and sexual minorities guide our inquiry. Our analysis shows how activist socialisation can intervene in and reshape how African sexual minority men perceive and name unwanted and/or coercive sex.
Since the late 1990s, Namibian gender and sexual dissidents have publicly challenged homophobic s... more Since the late 1990s, Namibian gender and sexual dissidents have publicly challenged homophobic statements made by leaders of the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO), the country’s ruling political party. In this article, I treat Namibian gender and sexual diversity organizing as a decolonization movement contesting SWAPO’s grip over the trajectory of decolonization. To illustrate how gender and sexuality movements operate as decolonization movements, I analyze how feminist and LGBT activists have responded to SWAPO leaders’ political homophobia since 1995. I draw on an analysis of twenty-eight in-person, qualitative interviews with Namibian LGBT activists and four months of ethnographic observation of the activities of Sister Namibia, a feminist organization, and The Rainbow Project, an LGBT movement organization, that I conducted in 2006. I also analyzed 338 Namibian newspaper articles published between 1995 and 2010 that mention homosexuality, antihomosexual sentiments, or LGBT activism.
Se basant sur un travail ethnographique comprenant des entretiens et documents rassemblés en 2005... more Se basant sur un travail ethnographique comprenant des entretiens et documents rassemblés en 2005 et 2006, cet article utilise le concept de « ventriloquie provisoire » dans l’étude de l’inclusion proactive des personnes et revendications transgenres par des organisations du mouvement LGBT en Namibie et en Afrique du Sud. Pratiquant cette « ventriloquie provisoire », les militants LGBT namibiens et sud-africains prennent publiquement la parole au nom d’un groupe transgenre invisible, pendant une période donnée, en imaginant quels seraient les besoins et intérêts du groupe non encore matérialisé. L’article étudie trois épisodes différents au sein d’organisations LGBT en Namibie et en Afrique du Sud, mettant en lumière la mécanique de l’inclusion transgenre dans chaque cas.
Qualitative sociologists confront thorny ethical issues, many of which are beyond the scope of in... more Qualitative sociologists confront thorny ethical issues, many of which are beyond the scope of institutional review board procedures and protocols. This essay presents the broad themes of this special issue by reviewing major approaches to scholarly ethical practice, offering a set of orienting propositions, and introducing the contributions of and connections among the articles that follow.
Although sexual minorities in Africa continue to face harsh penalties for same-sex relationships,... more Although sexual minorities in Africa continue to face harsh penalties for same-sex relationships, strong anti-homophobic resistance exists across the continent. This book systematically charts the emergence and effects of politicized homophobia in Malawi and shows how it has been used as a strategy by political elites to consolidate their moral and political authority, through punishing LGBT people and dividing social movements. Here, Ashley Currier pays particular attention to the impact of politicized homophobia on different social movements, specifically HIV/AIDS, human rights, LGBT rights, and women's rights movements. Her timely account intervenes in Afro-pessimist portrayals of the African continent as a hotbed of homophobia and unravels the tensions and contradictions underlying Western perceptions of Malawi. It shows that, in reality, many lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people happily call Malawi home, in spite of heightened antigay vitriol that has generated unwanted visibility for them.
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