2014/01/01 by Ryan Thoreson · 1 citation
Social Sciences · Psychology · #African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues #LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy #Marriage and Sexual Relationships #Queer #Trope (literature) #Persecution #Politics #Homosexuality #Solidarity #Gender studies #Sociology #Situated #Political science #Law
paper · doi:10.1177/1363460713511098
openalex publication_date 2014/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/30
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.