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Confronting the Politics of Nonconforming Sexualities in Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2013

Sylvia Tamale
Sylvia Tamale*
Affiliation:
Sylvia Tamale is a feminist lawyer and scholar based in Kampala, Uganda.She teaches law at Makerere University, where she served as Law Dean from 2004 to 2008. She also serves on several international boards and has been a visiting professor in several academic institutions globally. She is the editor of African Sexualities: A Reader (Pambazuka Press, 2011). E-mail: stamale@law.mak.ac.ug
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Abstract:

The connections between democracy and sexuality—that is, between civil liberties and the protection of nonconforming sexualities—are rarely discussed in Africa. On the contrary, nonconforming sexualities have been instrumentalized to entrench dictatorships and to weaken democracy. As was the case in early twentieth-century Europe and North America, homophobia has become a political tool used by conservative politicians to promote self-serving agendas. Heterosexuality is also idealized by an acute ahistoricization of African politics by the Western media and civil society. The problem is also compounded by the distortion of African history promulgated by the dictatorial leadership on the continent.

Résumé:

Les rapports entre démocratie et sexualité—c’est-à-dire entre les libertés civiles et la protection des sexualités hors normes—sont rarement sujets à discussion en Afrique. Au contraire, les sexualités hors normes ont été utilisées comme instrument de renforcement pour les dictatures et d’affaiblissement pour la démocratie. Comme c’était le cas au début du vingtième siècle en Europe et en Amérique du nord, l’homophobie est devenue un outil politique utilisé par les politiciens conservateurs pour promouvoir des agendas personnels. En ignorant l’évolution historique de la politique africaine hors du temps, les médias occidentaux et la société civile ont une perception idéalisée de l’hétérosexualité en Afrique. Ce problème est aggravé par le fait que les dictatures du continent promulguent une vision déformée de la réalité historique Africaine.

Keywords

sexual politicsAfricaAnti-Homosexuality Billmoral panicsUbuntu
Type
ASR FORUM: HOMOPHOBIC AFRICA?
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , September 2013 , pp. 31 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2013 

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