Interview with Dorothea Smartt, Brit born Bajan literary activist, live artist & poet
Dorothea Smartt is a literary activist, live artist, and an established and respected poet with an international reputation. Born and raised in London she is of Barbadian heritage. Described as a ‘Brit-born Bajan international’, her work typically bridges…
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A Veil of Silence [Video]
The Veil of Silence produced by the TIER and directed by Habeeb Lawal documents the experience of sexual minorities in Nigeria and discusses issues of sexual citizenship, violence and stigma. On the brink of an impending law that could re-write…
Area Scatter – “”Ugwu Anya Engbulam”
From Likembe: Cross – Dressing Fun with Area Scatter I’ve recently learned that several years ago the Igbo traditional musician Area Scatter was killed in an auto accident. Area was a performer who achieved renown throughout Ala Igbo,…
African groups call for the African Union to urgently respond to gender and sexuality rights violations in Africa, and particularly to anti-gay laws recently passed in Uganda and Nigeria
African groups call for the African Union to urgently respond to gender and sexuality rights violations in Africa, and particularly to anti-gay laws recently passed in Uganda and Nigeria As African civil society organisations whose members live and work to…
The Day the African Commission Disavowed Humanity
The following article by Fikile Vilakazi and Sibongile Ndashe, was originally published in Pambazuka News, November 2010. The article is a response to the decision by the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights to deny observer status to the…
Statement from the Wits University on Anti-Homosexuality Legislation in Africa
MESSAGE FROM THE OFFICE OF THE VICE-CHANCELLOR AND PRINCIPAL DATE: MONDAY, 3 MARCH 2014 STATEMENT FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND PERTAINING TO ANTI-HOMOSEXUALITY LEGISLATION IN AFRICA The University of the Witwatersrand notes with dismay and concern recent legislation in…
Who said it was simple? Exhibition in Dakar,Senegal
The ‘Who said it was simple’ exhibition runs from 28 January- 29 March 2014 at the Raw Material Company Gallery in Dakar, Senegal. Through a series of exhibits, workshops and talks the exhibition explores sexualities, the treatment of minorities and…
Feminist Chronicles: Tsitsi Dangarembga
One of the very first African Novels I enjoyed reading and actually took the time to walk into a bookshop and purchase was Nervous Conditions. Considering it was the first novel published in English by a black Zimbabwean woman, it…
Sneha Subra: A Drink or Two With the Intrepid Educator.
Perhaps that segues into my column about desirability especially since I am speaking to a woman currently living in India. This week I continue my column about desirability in the workplace. Sneha Subra is not just a friend of mine but my essential rock, and ours is a truly romantic story of friendship. I am privileged to have trudged through teenage-hood side-by-side with such a dynamic intelligent friend and now to be walking through adulthood still together with her in loyal friendship. She is an educator and writer currently based in India. She is a graduate of Knox College in Illinois and Azim Premji University in Karnataka, India.I recently spoke with her about her experience as a woman in education. “Chinchilla” is an inside joke. Enjoy!
Queer interventions – When victories in America’s culture wars become imperial policy
It is nearly two months since the Nigerian Senate passed the Same Sex Marriage Bill [SSMB 2013] yet the Bill is still awaiting presidential approval. It’s not clear why Goodluck Jonathan is dithering over a decision but possibly because of…
Haiti: KOURAJ: “Be True to Yourself”
The evangelical churches responsible for driving homophobia in Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia and the USA have begun a campaign of violence and hate in Haiti. On Friday, an all faith coalition of homophobic haters called [The Haitian Coalition of Religious and…
“The truth is, I’m shit scared” – Rape and Traumatic Recall
This form of violation is perpetrated with the explicit intention of ‘curing’ the lesbian of her
love for other women. Although many heterosexual survivors of rape attest to the stated intentions of their assailants as punitive (they have done something wrong, and thus ‘deserve’ rape), survivors of ‘curative rape’ make it clear that their attackers were interested in humiliating and punishing them for their choice of sexual identity and lifestyle and in ‘transforming’ them – by coercion – into heterosexual women.
DESIRE: A Four-Part Harmony.
Desire and desirability. It was the legendary philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche who brilliantly observed that “ultimately , it is the desire, not the desired, that we love.” Desire and desirability have -through time – puzzled and mesmerized sages the world over….
Gender Nonconformity and Dating in New York City
In spite of the many configurations of queer dating in this vibrant and complex city, a series of recent encounters have given me pause, pushing me to ponder over hetero-normativity and queerness – specifically, what kinds of relationship and sexual expectations are often
Let’s Talk About Sex
Did you just cringe from this direct affront of a title? Then that might be the hypocrite in you, the sappy morality you probably incurred from a decent upbringing and/or religious beliefs. I am of a modest upbringing too: a good…
When will we learn?
*Disclaimer* [This article does not mean in any way to trivialise the struggle by sexual minorities for their rights, neither does it seek to force the writers’ own views on sexual minority rights on the reader. Rather it is a…
African Sexualities
African Sexualities’ is a groundbreaking new volume, forthcoming from Pambazuka Press. As well as using popular culture to help address the ‘what, why, how, when and where’ questions, the book’s contributors provide a critical mapping of African sexualities that informs…
Sexuality discourses in Africa
Kavinya Makau and Zawadi Nyong’o, discuss some of the issues raised at the recent Conference on Sexual Health and Rights held in Addis Ababa. Mention sex in most places on the African continent and you are likely to be met…
Religion and Sexuality
Bishop Tutu was born on 7 October 1931. “Jesus did not say, ‘If I be lifted up I will draw some’.” Jesus said, ‘If I be lifted up I will draw all, all, all, all, all. Black, white, yellow, rich,…
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