Queer African Reader

by Sokari on May 17, 2012

Queer African Reader

Edited by Sokari Ekine and Hakima Abbas

 A visionary work melding academia and art that breaks the mould for Queer African studies

 Unique in presenting the voices of LGBTI Africans

 Groundbreaking in both scope and content, it encompasses voices from across the African content

 

As the double jeopardy of homophobia and transphobia, and western imperialism, threaten to silence the voices of African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, the Queer African Reader is a testament to the resistance and unrelenting power of these communities across Africa and her Diaspora.  The Queer African Reader brings together academic writings, political analysis, life testimonies, conversations and artistic works by Africans that engage with the struggle for LGBTI liberation.

The book aims to engage the audience from the perspective that various axes of identity – gender, race, class and others – interact to contribute to social inequality. It includes experiences from diverse African contexts and breaks away from the homogenisation of Africa as the homophobic continent to highlight the complexities of LGBTI lives and experiences through their own voices.

Contributions from across the continent explore issues of identity, resistance, solidarity, pinkwashing, global politics, intersections of struggle, religion and culture, community, sex and love.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Section 1 

1. A Story
   David Kato

2. In sisterhood and solidarity: queering African feminist spaces
   Awino Okech

3. Postcolonial discourses of queer activism and class in Africa
   Lyn Ossome

4. Contesting narratives of queer Africa
   Sokari Ekine

5. The single story of ‘African homophobia’ is dangerous for LGBTI activism
   Sibongile Ndashe

6. Twice Removed: African Invisibility in Western Queer Theory
   Douglas Clarke

7. Queerying Borders: An Afrikan Activist Perspective
   Bernedette Muthien

8. Don’t be afraid to let me change
   Mia Nikasimo

9. On the Paradoxical Logic of Intersections: A Mathematical Reading of the Reality of Homosexuality in Africa
   Charles Gueboguo

10. Proudly African and transgender
    Gabrielle Le Roux

Section 2 

1. The face I love: Zanele Muholi, Faces and Phases
   Rael Salley

2. Caster runs for me
   Doyin Ola

3. Transsexual’s nightmare: activism or subjugation?
   Audrey Mbugua

4. The media, the tabloid and the Uganda homophobia spectacle
   Kenne Mwikya

5. Mounting homophobic violence in Senegal
   Tidiane Kasse

7. Queer Kenya in law and policy
   Keguro Macharia

8. NGOs and Queer Women’s Activism in Nairobi
   Kaitlin Dearham

9. LGBTIQD: Does the label fit?
   Liesl Theron

10. Deconstructing violence towards black lesbians in South Africa
    Zethu Matebeni

11. Zanele Muholi’s intimate archive: photography and post-apartheid lesbian lives
    Kylie Thomas

12. Gallery
    Photographs by Zanele Muholi

Section 3

1. Disability and desire: journey of a filmmaker
   Shelley Barry

2. The vampire bite that brought me to life
   Nancy Lylac Warinda

3. Nhorondo – Mawazo yetu: Tracing life back – our reflections
   Zandile Makahamadze & Kagendo Murungi

4. What’s in a letter?
   Valerie Mason-John

5. Straight to the matter
   Olumide Popoola

6. Telling stories
   Happy Mwende Kinyili

7. LGBTI-Queer struggles like other struggles in Kenya
   Gathoni Blessol

8. Small axe at the crossroads: a reflection on African sexualities and human rights
   Kagendo Murungi

9. The portrait
   Pamela Dlungwana

10. Remember me when I’m gone
    Busiswe Sigasa

11. The danger of Malawi’s Gay and Lesbian discourse spinning on the human rights axis
    Jessie Kabwila Kapasula

Index

 

Related titles

Sylvia Tamale (ed), African Sexualities: A Reader

June 2011 GB pounds 24.95 978-0-85749-01

 

Sokari Ekine is an educator and writer who has been active in social justice issues around education, race, sexuality, gender, militarization and technology for over twenty years. Sokari has been a regular contributor to Pambazuka News since 2005 and she has published both as editor and author on social media, militarization, gender and human rights. Most recently she co-edited African Awakening: The Emerging Revolutions.

Hakima Abbas, the executive director of Fahamu, has been active in struggles for social justice around issues of self-determination, race, class, gender and sexuality for over fifteen years. She has published extensively as editor and author of articles and books related to development, human rights and social justice.