Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

During the debate over Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Bill in 2009 and 2010, journalists and activists warned of a ‘wave of homophobia’ in sub-Saharan Africa. In this article, I illustrate how this trope elides critical differences between contemporaneous incidents. I suggest that forms of anti-queer animus instead might be understood as the products of political economies, and use that approach to distinguish the Anti-Homosexuality Bill in Uganda, the arrest of Tiwonge Chimbalanga and Steven Monjeza in Malawi, and the efflorescence of anti-LGBTI persecution in Senegal. A situated understanding of the political economies that generate these incidents enriches activist responses, and raises critical questions about solidarity and responsibility for activists and theorists alike.

Keywords

Homophobia human rights political economy postcolony sub-Saharan Africa

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adam

Duyvendak

Krouwel

(1999) The Global Emergence of Gay and Lesbian Politics: National Imprints of a Worldwide Movement, Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press.

AFP – Agence France Press (2009) Ethics Minister: UN spreading homosexuality. The Zimbabwe Mail. Available at: http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/UN-spreading-homosexuality-20090403 (accessed 25 December 2013).

Aken’ova C (2010) Draconian laws against homosexuality in Africa. Sexuality Policy Watch. Available at: http://www.sxpolitics.org/?p=3854 (accessed 25 December 2013).

Allen K (2010) Homophobia ‘sweeping Southern Africa.’ British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8584000/8584731.stm (accessed 25 December 2013).

Amadiume

(1987) Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society, London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Anderson

(1983) Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, London: Verso.

Anti-Homosexuality Bill, 2009 (2009) The Uganda Gazette No. 47, Vol. CII.

Awondo P, Geschire P and Reid G (2012) Homophobic Africa? Toward a more nuanced view. African Studies Review 55(3): 145–168.

Behind the Mask (2011) Available at: http://www.mask.org.za (accessed 3 February 2011).

10.

Bérubé

D’Emilio

(1984) The military and lesbians during the McCarthy years. Signs 9(4): 759775.

11.

Besen

(2010) On the varieties of homophobia. The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide 27(3): 3032.

12.

Bop C (2008) Senegal: Homophobia and Islamic political manipulation. Our Bodies Ourselves Health Resource Center. Available at: http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/companion.asp?id=31&compID=127 (accessed 25 December 2013).

13.

Bop C (2010) Remarks at Policing Sexuality: Law, Society, and Homosexuality in Sub-Saharan Africa, New York University School of Law, New York, 17 February 2010.

14.

Callimachi R (2010) Even after death, abuse against gays continues. Boston Globe. Available at: http://www.boston.com/news/world/africa/articles/2010/04/12/even_after_death_abuse_against_gays_continues (accessed 27 April 2010).

15.

Cameron E (2009) LGBTI Rights Around the World: Towards a Framework for Global Activism. The James Robert Brudner Memorial Lecture, Yale University, New Haven, CT, 28 October 2009.

16.

CEDEP – Centre for the Development of People (2010). Available at: http://www.cedepmalawi.org (accessed 9 April 2010).

17.

Civil Society Coalition on Human Rights and Constitutional Law (2009) Anti-Homosexuality or Anti-Human Rights Bill? Available at: http://www.ugandans4rights.org/publications.php?subaction=showfull&id=1255090980&archive=&start_from=&ucat=2& (accessed 3 February 2011).

18.

DeCapua J (2010) Homophobia sweeping Africa like a disease, says rights group. Voice of America. Available at: http://www.voanews.com/content/decapua-africa-homophobia-16dec10-112008269/157064.html (accessed 25 December 2013).

19.

Diagne IB (2009) Un homosexuel arrêté dans la ville Sainte de Touba. Le Peuple. Available at: http://www.xibar.net/Un-homosexuel-arrete-dans-la-ville-sainte-de-Touba_a19939.html (accessed 18 December 2009).

20.

Diop GN (2009) Conférence de Dakar sur le Sida: Jamra dénonce l’implication des homosexuels. Walfadjri. Available at: http://www.walf.sn/actualites/suite.php?rub=1&id_art=51522 (accessed 30 November 2009).

21.

Engelke

(1999) ‘We wondered what human rights he was talking about’: Human rights, homosexuality, and the Zimbabwe International Book Fair. Critique of Anthropology 19(3): 289314.

22.

Epprecht

(2012) Sexual minorities, human rights and public health strategies in Africa. African Affairs 111(443): 223243.

23.

Evertz

(2010) How Ideology Trumped Science: Why PEPFAR Has Failed to Meet its Potential, Washington, DC: Center for American Progress and Council for Global Equality.

24.

Fone

(2000) Homophobia: A History, New York: Picador.

25.

Gay Uganda (2011) Available at: http://www.gayuganda.blogspot.com (accessed 3 February 2011).

26.

Gettleman J (2010) Americans’ role seen in Uganda anti-gay push. The New York Times. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/04/world/africa/04uganda.html (accessed 25 December 2013).

27.

Graham

(1973) Security clearances for homosexuals. Stanford Law Review 25(3): 403429.

28.

Gyezaho E (2009) Museveni warns against homosexuality. The Daily Monitor. Available at: http://allafrica.com/stories/200911161991.html (accessed 12 November 2012).

29.

Haritaworn

Tauqir

Erdem

(2008) Gay imperialism: Gender and sexuality discourse in the ‘War on Terror’. In: Kuntsman

Miyake

(eds) Out of Place: Interrogating Silences in Queerness/Raciality, London: Raw Nerve Books, pp. 7195.

30.

Herek

(2000) The psychology of sexual prejudice. Current Directions in Psychological Science 9(1): 1922.

31.

Herek

(2004) Beyond ‘homophobia’: Thinking about prejudice and sexual stigma and in the twenty-first century. Sexuality Research and Social Policy 1(2): 624.

32.

Hoad

(2007) African Intimacies: Race, Homosexuality, and Globalization, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

33.

HRW – Human Rights Watch (2010) Fear For Life: Violence Against Gay Men and Men Perceived as Gay in Senegal, New York: HRW.

34.

IGLHRC – International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (2010) In letter to Malawi's President, IGLHRC condemns conviction and ongoing discrimination. Global Monitor. Available at: http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/takeaction/resourcecenter/1130.html (accessed 25 December 2013).

35.

IGLHRC – International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and SMUG – Sexual Minorities Uganda (2009) Uganda: The U.S. religious right exports homophobia to Africa. Available at: http://www.iglhrc.org/cgi-bin/iowa/article/takeaction/partners/868.html (accessed 25 December 2013).

36.

Johnson

(1994–1995) ‘Homosexual citizens’: Washington’s gay community confronts the civil service. Washington History 6(2): 4463.

37.

Kaoma

(2009) Globalizing the Culture Wars: U.S. Conservatives, African Churches, and Homophobia, Somerville, MA: Political Research Associates.

38.

Kaoma

(2012) Colonizing African Values: How the U.S. Christian Right is Transforming Sexual Politics in Africa, Somerville, MA: Political Research Associates.

39.

Kassé MT (2013) Mounting homophobic violence in Senegal,” In Ekine S and Abbas H (eds) Queer African Reader. Oxford: Pambazuka Press, pp. 262–272.

40.

Khunga S (2010) Bingu stops comments on gays. The Daily Times (Malawi). Available at: http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3742&Itemid=26 (accessed 20 June 2010).

41.

Kinsman

(1995) ‘Character weaknesses’ and ‘fruit machines’: Towards an analysis of the anti-homosexual security campaign in the Canadian civil service. Labour/Le Travail 35: 133161.

42.

Kulick

(2009) Can there be an anthropology of homophobia? In: Murray

DAB

(ed) Homophobia: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, pp. 1933.

43.

Long

(2009) Unbearable witness: How western activists (mis)recognize sexuality in Iran. Contemporary Politics 15(1): 119136.

44.

Lumu DT (2009) MPs Forum: Homosexuality is not a human right. The Observer (Uganda). Available at: http://www.observer.ug/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5797&catid=83 (accessed 25 December 2013).

45.

Mail and Guardian (2010) Malawi police arrest man in anti-gay sweep. Available at: http://mg.co.za/print/2010-02-16-malawi-police-arrest-man-in-antigay-sweep (accessed 25 December 2013).

46.

Massad

(2002) Re-orienting desire: The gay international and the Arab world. Public Culture 14(2): 361385.

47.

Mizere A (2010) NGOs cash in on gays. The Daily Times (Malawi). Available at: http://www.bnltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1747&Itemid=29 (accessed 20 June 2010).

48.

Morgan

Wieringa

(2005) Tommy Boys, Lesbian Men and Ancestral Wives: Female Same-Sex Practices in Africa, Johannesburg: Jacana Media.

49.

Msibi

(2011) The lies we have been told: On (homo) sexuality in Africa. Africa Today 58(1): 5577.

50.

Murray

DAB

(2009) Homophobias: Lust and Loathing Across Time and Space, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

51.

Murray

Roscoe

(1998) Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies of African Homosexualities, New York: Palgrave.

52.

Nakaweesi-Kimbugwe S and Mugisha F (2009) Bahati’s Bill: A convenient distraction for Uganda’s government. Pambazuka News. Available at: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/comment/59556 (accessed 25 December 2013).

53.

Namiti M (2011) Uganda walk-to-work protests kick up dust. Al-Jazeera. Available at: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/04/201142831330647345.html (accessed 25 December 2013).

54.

Ottosson

(2010) State-Sponsored Homophobia: A World Survey of Laws Prohibiting Same Sex Activity Between Consenting Adults, Brussels: International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association.

55.

Puar

(2007) Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times, Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

56.

Puar J (2010) To be gay and racist is no anomaly. The Guardian. Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jun/02/gay-lesbian-islamophobia (accessed 25 December 2013).

57.

Raghavan S (2010) Gays in Africa face growing persecution, activists say. Washington Post. Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/11/AR2010121103045.html (accessed 25 December 2013).

58.

Seneweb (2008) La participation des homosexuels à l’ICASA 2008 était ‘inopportune,' selon Jamra. Available at: http://www.seneweb.com/news/Societe/la-participation-des-homosexuels-l-icasa-2008-tait-inopportune-selon-jamra_n_19990.html (accessed 25 December 2013).

59.

SMUG – Sexual Minorities Uganda (2009) Official statement from LGBTI Ugandans. Available at: http://www.sexualminoritiesuganda.org (accessed 25 December 2013).

60.

Tamale S (2003) Out of the closet: Unveiling sexuality discourses in Uganda. Feminist Africa 2. Available at: http://agi.ac.za/feminist-africa-issue-2-2003-changing-cultures (accessed 25 December 2013).

61.

Tamale

(2011) Researching and theorising sexualities in Africa. In: Tamale

(ed) African Sexualities – A Reader, Cape Town: Pambazuka, pp. 1136.

62.

Tande D (2009) American evangelists and the growth of homophobia in Africa. Pambazuka News. Available at: http://www.pambazuka.org/en/category/blog/60874 (accessed 25 December 2013).

63.

Teunis

(2001) Same-sex sexuality in Africa: A case study from Senegal. AIDS and Behavior 5(2): 173182.

64.

Tutu D (2010) In Africa, a step backward on human rights. The Washington Post. Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031103341.html (accessed 25 December 2013).

65.

Von Mittelstaedt J and Steinvorth D (2009) The gay sons of Allah: Wave of homophobia sweeps the Muslim world. Der Spiegel International. Available at: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/the-gay-sons-of-allah-wave-of-homophobia-sweeps-the-muslim-world-a-647913.html (accessed 13 November 2012).

66.

Wickberg

(2000) Homophobia: On the cultural history of an idea. Critical Inquiry 27(1): 4257.

Troubling the waters of a ‘wave of homophobia’: Political economies of anti-queer animus in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References