Index
Aba Adama (pseudonym), 18
Abotsi, Ernest Kofi,
abstinence, 56
Abu-Lughod, Lila, 7
abusive dynamics
age difference and, 217
concealment of, 173
emotional, 188
jealousy and, 203
kinship terminology and, 268
sex workers and, 199
Accra Central, 190
Accra Girls Senior Secondary School, 192
Accra, Ghana, , 174
activist-ing, 76
affect theory, 275
African bodies, as sexualized and racialized Others, , 277
African migrants, 277
African Women’s World Cup, 178
African-American English, 273
African-American hip-hop artists, 143
Afro-Surinamese Creole, 273
age gaps in relationships, 40, , , see also senior-junior hierarchies, sugar motherhood
anthropological terms for,
sibling terminology and, 226
Agenda, 24
agonwɔle agyalɛ (friendship marriage),
agonwɔlɛyɛlɛ kpalɛ (”good” friendship), 39
Ahinful, Kwamena, 93
Akagbor, Sena, 241
Akan ethno-linguistic group, 15, 52
anthropological studies of,
female beauty ideal, 131
narrative traditions,
social and political organization, 224
akomofoɔ (diveners), 144
Akwetey-Kanyi, Ashiagbar, 94
Allman, Jean, 141
Amoah, Elizabeth, 130
Anarfi, Mrs. (pseudonym), , 214
Appiah, Kwame Anthony, ,
Arnfred, Signe, Re-thinking Sexualities in Africa, 51
arrival stories, , 12
Asantewa, 146
asexual relationships, 263
atwebenefie,
Badu, Mr. (pseudonym), , 67
Banks, William, 71
barima (man, manly), 131
Bartels, Kwamena, , 53
Baule language, 52
Bayo, Adjoa, 179
Berlant, Lauren, 21
Beyoncé, 95
“big women,” 131, 146, 162, 216
discretion and, 199
sexualized rumors of selfishness, 174
small girls and, 178
bi-national families,
biological determinism, 128
biological kinship, 223
bisexuals, 74
black feminism, 144
black masculinity, 143
Blacking, John, , 113
blackmail, 212
boarding schools
as homosocial bonding space, 270
Asafo companies and, 97
comparisons of,
dormitory “partner” setup, 90
lack of privacy at, 116
mother-child terms used in, 80
pre-marital pregnancies and, 40
reports, 4
senior-junior hierarchies, , , 173
supi-supi lesbianism,
Bochow, Astrid, 56
body ideals, 146
Boellstorff, Tom, 252
Bourdieu, Pierre, 112
bragoro nubility rites,
“British Accra,” 190
British Common Law, 64
British Council, 68
British sodomy laws, 77
Brubaker, Roger, 150
Burton, Richard, 28
butch-femme discourse. see also masculine gender presentation
clothing and, 144
emotional butchness, 207
female footballers and, 132
gender and, ,
giving and receiving, 211
caring,
cars, gender and,
Castle School, 83
Castro Varela, María do Mar, 23
casual relationships,
Catholics, 58
Central Market Kumasi, 16
charismatic Christianity, 48, , , see also Christianity
anti-gay initiatives, 68
condemnation of homosexuality, 50
sexualization of public sphere and, 77
Chauncey, George, 67
chop bars,
chosen families, , 265
Christensen, James,
Christian educational booklets, 204
Christian women’s groups, 270
Christianity, 278, see also Pentecostalism, charismatic Christianity
discourse on homosexuality, , 77
fatherhood and, 141
CitiFM (radio station), 65
Clarkson, Kelly, 95
Clifford, James, 7
closet metaphor,
Coalition of African Lesbians (CAL), 276
Cole, Jennifer, 121
Coleman, Khadija (pseudonym), 5
collectivization of love, ,
colonial records, 4
colonial violence, 44
colonialism, 181, see also British colonial administration
homosexual theories and, 77
imperialist “rescue narratives,” 35
sexual relationships and, 33
colonizing keyhole gaze
male same-sex relationships, 28
sexualized and racialized African bodies,
women marriages,
Comfort Otu (pseudonym), 103
Confederation of African Football, 178
confusion,
conjugal intimacy, 230
connectedness, 267
Connie Ofosu (pseudonym),
consensual relationships, 188
Convention People’s Party (CPP), 51
cooking,
cornrows, 143
Crenshaw, Kimberlé, 36
Criminal Code (1960), sodomy law,
culture, discourse on homosexuality and, 62
customary court cases,
Dakar, 188
Dankwa, E. Akurang, 82
darling bonds, 89
Dearham, Kaitlin, 76
decolonization, 279
dees, 271
Defiant Desire (Gevisser and Cameron), 25
deviance, 10
Dhawan, Nikita, 23
disgrace,
Dokua Hewlett (pseudonym), 92
domestic helpers, 173, ,
dramas, 18
dreadlocks,
Economic Recovery Program, 172
economic support, 245
Efua Aikins (pseudonym),
eggs, symbolism of,
elite women, 4
emotional butchness, 207
emotional intimacy, 160
emotions,
employment, , , 260
erotic capital, 187
erotic intimacies, 42
Esther Gyamerah (pseudonym), 164,
ethical questions, 6
ethnocartographies, 34
ethnographic fieldwork locations,
Evans-Pritchard, Edward, 30
Ewe, 53
ex-gay Christians, 67
extended family model,
extra-large beds,
Faderman, Lillian, 43
Fante-Asante wars, 95
Felicia Clottey (pseudonym),
female agency,
female egalitarianism,
female footballers, 16, , 270
casual relationships and, 210
friendships among, 19,
police interventions and,
Feminist Africa, 24
feminist anthropology, 7,
feminist fiction writers, 27
Foucault, Michel, 110, 150
“ars erotica,” 122
friendship as a way of life, 42
History of Sexuality, 33
repressive hypothesis, 56
repressive thesis, 77
France, 77
free marriage, 138
Freundin (German), 273
friendship, , see also networks
as a way of life, 42
exchange of gifts and,
in nineteenth-century Britain and North America,
language of, 34
love and, ,
love triangles and,
same-sex desire and,
subversive potential of,
use of term, 267
friendship marriage (agonwɔle agyalɛ),
Gambia, 27
Gandhi, Leela, Affective Communities, 42
Gaudio, Rudolf,
Allah Made Us, 22
gay and lesbian (sub)cultures
emergence of, 20
Gay and Lesbian Association of Ghana (GALAG), 49,
gay, use of term, 76
gay/lesbian anthropology, 33
gender
age and, , , 271
as relational category, 45, ,
colonial violence and, 44
flexibility of,
incest and, 242
performativity of, 171
power relations and, 37
situational,
gender studies,
Germany, Ghanaian migrants in, 17
Ghana
economic growth, 61
educational system,
postcolonial precariousness in, 21
research on same-sex intimacy in,
urban same-sex subcultures, 61
Ghana News Agency, 49
Ghana Telecom,
Ghanaian languages. see also Ga language, Akan language, Twi language, speech norms
reduplication in, 93
Giddens, Anthony, 217
gift economy, 218
gift exchanges, 39, 260, 267, see also sharing, materiality of love, sugar motherhood
caring and,
erotic intimacies and, 44
Gifty (pseudonym), 168
Gikuyu women marriages, 31
girlfriend, 273
girlfriend, use of term, 271
givers and receivers,
go-betweens, 208
gossip, , 133, see also visibility of same-sex desiring women
among female relatives,
consequences of, 58
denial and, 193
love triangles and, 215
media attention and,
police interventions and, 196
social networks and, 174
supi, 251
Grace Tagoe (pseudonym), 238,
Greece, ancient, 177
Greenberg, David,
Green-Simms, Lindsey, 94
Grotanelli, Vingi L.,
Gunkel, Henriette, 88
Gyamerah, Akua, 62
Halberstam, Jack, Female Masculinity, , 126
Halperin, David M., 150
Hamda Ibrahima (pseudonym),
Hanses, Karen, 42
Hasty, Jennifer, 13
Helena Asamoah (pseudonym),
Héritier, Françoise, , 249,
Herskovits, Frances, 205
heterosexual matrix, 126
hierarchies. see also erotic hierarchies, senior-junior hierarchies
gift exchange and, 98
in friendships, 268
in giving and receiving, 174
in sibling relations,
social, 191
Hirschfeld, Magnus, 29
HIV/AIDS programs, 49
queer globalization and,
sexualization of African bodies and, 29
WSW peer educators, 69
HIV/AIDS risk, 189
homophobia, 199
Euro-American discourse on, 48
imperialist “rescue narratives” and, 36
in Africa, , 77,
internalized, 118
homophobic exclusions, 103
homosexuality. see also same-sex desiring women
age-differentiation and,
as concept in precolonial Ghana, 53
as modern and Euro-American, 47
concept of,
in Sub-Saharan Africa,
non-natural world and,
revolutionary potential of, 42
situational, 73
taboo on public discourse about, 3
“unafricanness” of, 80
Hunter, Mark, , 217
“husband-wife game,” 88
hypersexuality, 51
I will not eat stone (Allman and Tashjian), 22
identity politics, 39
Illouz, Eva, 237
immoral practices, 51
incest bans,
social networks and, 251
indirection, , 270, see also verbal discretion, speech norms
charismatic movement and, 55
culture of, 48
gossip and, 133
identities and, 78
labels and, 73
police interventions and, 64
supi and, 122
intersectionality, 36
Irene Bonsu (pseudonym), 82
Islamic groups, 54
Ivory Coast, 52
Karsch-Haack, Ferdinand, 29
kawa, 273
Kenya, 24
Kilson, Marion,
king-queen terminology,
kinship. see also queer kinship, motherhood, siblinghood
gender roles and, 40
Ghanaian principles, 46
in Africa, 41
in global North, 41
normative ideas of, 222
social construction of, 223
kinship theories
on substance,
Krobo Girls School, 83
Krobo girls’ initiation rites, 231
Kufuor, John, 59
Kulick, Don, 9
kunya (shame or modesty), 52
Kunzel, Regina, 150
Kwaku Ananse (trickster figure), 162
Langkawi (Malaysia),
language, 34, see also indirection, verbal discretion, speech norms
in female friendship networks, 44
performativity of, 52
Latasha Ray (pseudonym), 75
“lesbian bed death,” 263
lesbian groups, 3
lesbian invisibility, 72
lesbian visual language, 148
lesbian/gay studies, 36
lesbian-feminist historians, 42,
Lévi-Strauss, Claude, 251
LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) activist politics, 20, see also sexual rights politics
chosen families and, 253
cultural imperialism of, 68
family arrangements and, 257
global, 48
HIV/AIDS initiatives and, 27
in Accra, 14
in Africa,
male-dominated, 27
names and naming,
women’s voices in, 44, ,
LGBTIQA+, use of term, 37
life history genre,
lifestyles (“liking life”),
Lithur, Nana Oye, 66
love,
affective work of, 271
as mode of sociality, , 267
declarations of, 154,
siblinghood and,
working for, 207
Love in the Girl’s Dormitory: ‘Supi’ Palava (2005), 95
love triangles, 174, ,
banning of, 243
in same-sex bonding networks, 265
incest and, 249
shared housing and,
supi, 272
lover’s marriage, 138
Macharia, Keguro, 277
Mahmood (pseudonym), 67
Malaysia, 228
male same-sex intimacies. see also Men who have Sex with Men (MSM)
colonizing keyhole gaze and, 28
in Nigeria, 61
masculinity and, 71
patriarchal bonding and, 35
political focus on, 50
Malinowski, Bronislaw, Diary, 9
“Mama Benz,” 178
Marcus, George E., 7
market literature,
market women. see also female traders
gender and, 131
sexualized rumors of greediness, , 216
supi and, 122
marriage. see also same-sex marriage
autonomy and, 214
cooking in,
heteronormative script on, 15
in working-class context, 1
motherhood and,
Marxist scholars, 20
Mary Awoonor (pseudonym), 235
Massad, Joseph, 38
masturbation, 41
matchmakers, 208
materiality of love, 45, , 195, , see also sharing, gift exchanges
collectivized,
sugar motherhood and,
maternal support, 269
Mavis Marfo (pseudonym), 100
McKinley, Catherine, 96
Melanesia, 177
Menon, Nivedita, 73
Mensah, Ronald, 92
menstrual blood, 235
metaphorical kinship, 223
Meyer, Birgit, 57
Meyerowitz, Eva, 33
mi mati, 273
Miescher, Stephan, 131
mission reports, 4
mockery, 62
mogya (blood/line), 140
Monica Ankrah (pseudonym),
motherhood, 130, 169, see also pregnancy, motherhood paradigm, sugar motherhood
as metaphor for intimate relationships,
barrenness and, 134
gender and, 147
marital sex and, 207
marriage and, , 211
mother-daughter relations, , 175
same-sex relationships and, 200
motsoalle, 273
Muslim religious authorities, 77
my girl, 273
Nana Mansa (pseudonym), 6
National Archives of Ghana, 4
National Coalition for Proper Human Sexual Rights and Family Values, 68
National Democratic Congress (NDC), 50
“natural law of compensation,” 212
nature,
non-natural world and,
neoliberalism,
Nestle, Joan, 126
Netherlands, 85
networks. see also queer family networks, personal kindreds, networks of
collectivized love and,
friendship marriage and, 40
of same-sex desiring women, 19
New Patriotic Party (NPP), 51
newspapers, 59
Nguyen, Vinh-Kim, The Republic of Therapy, 69
Niger, 61
Nigeria, 22, 27, 35, 52, 273, see also Nollywood (Nigerian cinema)
criminal code, 65
male same-sex subcultures in, 61
repatriation from, 55
Noll, Andrea, 89
non-normative practices, research on, 6
North Atlantic queers, 117
ntɔrɔ (spiritual aspect of paternity),
nubility rites
bragoro nubility rites,
Nuer women marriages, 30
nurture argument,
Nyamnjoh, Francis, 188
Nzema friendship marriage,
ɔbaa (woman), 131
ɔbaapanyin, 82
ɔbaatan (nursing mother), 96
ɔbarima (man, valiant man), 131
occult same-sex bonding practices, 198
occult sexual crimes, 64
ɔkyeame (spokesperson), 53
Onions are my husband (Clark), 22
open narrative interviews,
oral sex, 235
Otu, Kwame E., 71
ɔmanhene (king), 163
pamphlet literature,
Paramaribo, 205
participant observation,
passion, 151, 222, 237, see also pleasure, sexual activity
gifts and, 240
lack of, 234
loss of urgency in,
paternalism, 277
Patricia Opoku (pseudonym), 1
patronage, 170
Penal Codes, 64
performativity, 159
permanence, 264
Pierce, Steven, 61
police interventions, , , 196
Popoola, Olumide, 3
popular entertainment, 55
popular fiction,
postcolonial subject, 275
post-structuralist theory, 3
power relations. see also abusive dynamics
decolonization and, 279
gendered, 37,
queer globalization and, 38
practice, 34
precariousness, , 270, 275, see also poverty
queer family arrangements and,
social identities and, 61
premarital sex, 56
Presbyterians, 58
Prince Kweku MacDonald (pseudonym), , ,
privilege, 279
pro-natalist culture, 40
puberty rites, , 231
public display of affection, 52
Queer African Studies, 25
Queer African Youth Networking Centre (QAYN), 27
queer globalization, ,
queer postcolonial scholars, 42
Q-zine, 24
radical participation, 6
Rao, Rahul, 36
relational manhood,
research methodology,
resistance, 42
Rita (pseudonym), 223
Roman Catholic Girls Schools, 82
romantic courtship, 237
romantic friendships, 43
Rose Asuku (pseudonym), , 249
Rosenthal, Gabriele, 11
rumors, 183
Sackey, Brigid, 96
sadness,
sameness, 252
same-sex desiring women. see also sexual identity, lesbianism, homosexuality, erotic subjectivity, siblinghood, “doing everything together”; doing, indirection, gender, sugar motherhood, butch-femme discourse, supi girlfriendships, friendship, sexual activity, “knowing women”; knowing
research on, , , ,
Sandra (pseudonym), 165
Schneider, David, 228
Scottish Mission Sisters, 83
secondary schools. see Senior Secondary School (SSS), Junior Secondary School (JSS), boarding schools
Sedgwick, Eve, Epistemology of the Closet, 38
Senegal, 77
senior-junior hierarchies, , 97, 107, , , 268, see also hierarchies, sugar motherhood
in girls’ boarding schools, , , 173
in social networks, 218
sensationalism, , 76
Serwa Asiedu (pseudonym),
sexual activity. see also pleasure
attitudes toward, ,
friendship and, 39
oral sex, 235
pleasure and,
power dynamics in, , 231
sexual appetite, 67
sexual health, 197
sexual identity, 8, 14, , 25, 270, see also identity
community and, 253
gender and, 125, ,
global media and,
labels and,
verbal discretion and, 52
visibility and, 110,
sexual modernity,
sexual rights politics, 19, 26, 198, see also LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) activist politics
in North Atlantic, 117
Sharing the same bowl (Robertson), 22
siblinghood, 46
“doing everything together” and,
equality in, 226
hostilities in,
in Euro-American contexts, 253
love and,
metaphorical, 252
sharing and, , 269
sharing substance and,
terminology,
Signorini, Italo, 39
similitude, 252
sin, 92
situational homosexuality, 73
“small girls,” 187, 232
as domestic helpers, 208
“big men” and, 189
masculinity and, 214
schoolteachers and,
Smith-Rosenberg, Carrol,
socio-economic status, 271
sotadism, 28
Southern Africa,
romantic love in, 121
sovereignty, 62