Heterosexism in West Africa

Heterosexism in West Africa

Welcome to Documenting Queerness Archive! | In the 1990s, leaders such as Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Sam Nujoma of Namibia publicly denounced non-heteronormativity, framing it as a form of moral decadence imported from the West. Around the same period, debates surrounding the drafting of the post-apartheid constitution in South Africa brought questions of sexuality and rights into sharp focus. The adoption of the Constitution of South Africa notably its anti-discrimination clause explicitly prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation made homosexuality a highly visible and contested political issue in the country. Elsewhere on the continent like in West Africa however, widespread public controversy around homosexuality intensified more recently. Over the past decade, concerns about homosexuality have increasingly entered public discourse, often amplified by political and religious leaders. In several contexts, this has been accompanied by a notable escalation in state-led persecution and social targeting, particularly directed at young men identified or perceived as “gay.” Host: Afua Brantuo Script Researcher and Editors: awo dufie föfie & Kim Davou We would love to hear back from you. Send us all your questions and thoughts on West African Non-heteronormativity anonymously here: https://ngl.link/transtalks or join in on our Substack conversations. Here is how to support our work: -Subscribe and share our Substack with your network. -Donate directly to us support our staff fundraisers: https://selar.com/showlove/documentingqueerness -Donate to our mutual aid support fund to support the cost of field work for our upcoming second season: https://gofund.me/1d421f8c1 Music: Wo Fie feat. Wanlov the Kubolor & Sister Deborah by Angel Maxine Suggested Further Reading: Bertolt, B. (2019) ‘The Invention of Homophobia in Africa’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.15520/jassh53418. Awondo, P. (2010) ‘The politicisation of sexuality and rise of homosexual movements in post-colonial Cameroon’, Review of African Political Economy, 37(125), pp. 315–328. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/03056244.2010.510624. Msibi, T. (2011) ‘The Lies We Have Been Told: On (Homo) Sexuality in Africa’, Africa Today, 58(1), p. 55. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55. Sogunro, A. (2022) ‘Queer lawfare in Africa: Legal strategies in contexts of LGBTIQ+ criminalisation and politicisation`. Available at: https://books.google.com.gh/books?hl=en&lr=&id=DOOdEAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA205&dq=info:AO-yglUgvcgJ:scholar.google.com/&ots=eNI-EI8pRO&sig=wLXVXrzAngN6KEyFA3i4ztAzBP0&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit documentingqueerness.substack.com [https://documentingqueerness.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Queering the Archives

Heterosexism is the institutionalization of a heterosexual norm which establishes the idea that all people are or should be heterosexual, thereby privileging heterosexuals and heterosexuality, and excluding the needs, concerns, cultures, histories, and life experiences of non-heteronormative people. In our last episodes we have discussed the colonial import of homophobia. Or in other words how heterosexuality became institutionalized by specifically the British in its former colonies in West Africa. In this episode, we want to explore heterosexism in West Africa. Sometimes, there is a certain romanticizing of the historical status or even the very history of queerness. Indeed queerness existed and continues to exist, but historically what conditions did different communities of non-normative people live in? How much social, political, and economic power did they wield? Host: Afua Brantuo Script Researchers and Editors: awo dufie föfie & Kim Davou We would love to hear back from you. Send us all your questions and thoughts on West African Non-heteronormativity anonymously here: https://ngl.link/transtalks or join in on our Substack conversations. Here is how to support our work: -Subscribe and share our Substack with your network. -Donate directly to us support our work on Selar [https://selar.com/showlove/documentingqueerness]. Donate to our mutual aid support fund [https://gofund.me/1d421f8c1] to support the cost of field work for our upcoming second season. Music: Wo Fie feat. Wanlov the Kubolor &Sister Deborah by Angel Maxine Further Reading Msibi, Thabo. “The Lies We Have Been Told: On (Homo) Sexuality in Africa.” Africa Today, vol. 58, no. 1, 2011, pp. 55–77. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026. https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/safrica/safriglhrc0303-02.htm Unmasking the Colonial Silence: Sexuality in Africa in the Post­ Colonial Context, Journal of Theology for Southern Africa by Rev. Kapya Kaoma, Th.D. John c. Caldwell, Pat Caldwell and Pat Quiggin, “The Social Context of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa”, Population and Development Review 15, no. 2 (June 1989), 185-234:224 Alfred o. Ukaegbu, “The Role of Traditional Marriage Habits in Population Growth: The Case of Rural Eastern Nigeria”, Journal of African International Institute 46, no. 4 (1976), 390-398:393. Dominique Zahan, The Religion, Spirituality, and Thought of Traditional Africa, Ezra Martin and Lawrence M. Martin (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1970), 10. Bénézet Bujo, African Theology in Its Social Context (Maryknoll, NY: Obis Book, 1992). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit documentingqueerness.substack.com [https://documentingqueerness.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Queering the Archives

Hello! You're welcome to the Documenting Queerness Archive! |Queerness outside a Western Gaze- Part II| In our last episode we interrogated how both claiming indigenous non-heteronormativity and queer history is LGBT history as well as claiming that queerness is a western import are both reproducing coloniality and violence. In this episode, we talk about global homophobia and the colonial project. Today homophobia (or harboring prejudice against non-heteronormativity) has become a well established fact but where does it come from and historically how was it weaponised by colonialism to justify dehumanizing and plunder? Here's where to find us: Host: awo dufie föfie Script Researcher and Editors: awo dufie föfie & Afua Brantuo 🔗 https://afuabrantuo.com/ 🔗 https://linktr.ee/awodufie We would love to hear back from you. Send us all your questions and thoughts on West African Non-heteronormativity anonymously here: https://ngl.link/transtalks or join in on our Substack conversations. Support us by: Subscribing to our Patreon and Substack Donating to our West African MaGe Mutual Aid. Link 🔗 https://www.paypal.me/KehindeAwolesi (Reference: DQ-ARCHIVE) Recommended further reading Msibi, T. (2011) ‘The Lies We Have Been Told: On (Homo) Sexuality in Africa’, Africa Today, 58(1), p. 55. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2979/africatoday.58.1.55. Grimes, W. (2017) ‘George Weinberg Dies at 87; Coined “Homophobia” After Seeing Fear of Gays’, The New York Times, 22 March. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/22/us/george-weinberg-dead-coined-homophobia.html. Corpus Iuris Civilis: The Digest and Codex: Marriage Laws DIGEST Book XXIII. Title II. On the Marriage Ceremony. Available at: https://faculty.uml.edu/ethan_spanier/Teaching/documents/CP9JustinianicLaws.pdf. Keene, J.L. (2020) ‘Spiritual Fornication’: Monasticism and Sexual Depravity in Reformation England, Jhu.edu. Available at: https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/items/fba67490-ea20-4aab-a957-fc66881106f8 (Accessed: 15 February 2026). Evans, R. (2011) The Victorians: Gender and Sexuality, www.gresham.ac.uk. Available at: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/victorians-gender-and-sexuality. Kathleen Ann Myers, Scott, N.M. and FernándezG. (2007) Fernández de Oviedo’s chronicle of America : a new history for a New World. University Of Texas Press. Heywood, L.M. (2017) Africa’s Warrior Queen. Harvard University Press. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv24w64p5. Epprecht, M. (2008) Heterosexual Africa?, Ohio University Press eBooks. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1353/book.7004. Evans, E.E. (1970) ‘Sexual Inversion among the Azande’, American Anthropologist, 72(6), pp. 1428–1434. Available at: https://doi.org/10.2307/672861. Amadiume, I. (2015) Male Daughters, Female Husbands. Zed Books Ltd. Oyewumi, O. (1997) The invention of women : making an African sense of Western gender discourses. Minneapolis ; London University of Minnesota Press. Kwame , E.O. (2022) ‘1. Situating Sasso: Mapping Effeminate Subjectivities and Homoerotic Desire in Postcolonial Ghana’, University of California Press eBooks, pp. 23–48. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520381865-003. Malidoma Patrice Somé (1994) Of Water and the Spirit. Tarcher. Gaudio, R.P. (2009) ‘Allah Made Us’. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444310535. Amengo-Otengo, R. (2021). Marriage Without Sex? Same-Sex Marriages and Female Identity among the Nankani of Northern Ghana. Ghana Journal of Religion and Theology. Herzog, W. (1989) Wodaabe - Die Hirten der Sonne. Nomaden am Südrand der Sahara, IMDb. Available at: https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0098669/ (Accessed: 15 February 2026). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit documentingqueerness.substack.com [https://documentingqueerness.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Queering the Archives

Welcome to Documenting Queerness Archive!|Queerness outside a Western Gaze- Part I| Are there any ways we can historicise and queer our West African history outside a western Euro-American lens? Why are both labelling precolonial indigenous non-heteronormativity as LGBT AND claiming queerness is western actually active forms of coloniality? Here's where to find us: Host: Afua Brantuo 🔗 https://afuabrantuo.com/ Script Researcher and Editors: awo dufie föfie & PreciousGift Ebunoluwa https://linktr.ee/awodufie https://shorturl.at/gU1Ci We would love to hear back from you. Send us all your questions and thoughts on West African Non-heteronormativity anonymously here: https://ngl.link/transtalks or join in on our Substack conversations. Support us by: * Subscribing to our Patreon and Substack * Donate to our colleague PreciousGift's Crowdfunding for Safety and Gender affirming care. https://gofund.me/eb979c4fc Recommended Further Readings: Sthembiso Pollen Mkhize and Anele Mthembu (2023) ‘Unpacking pervasive heteronormativity in sub-Saharan Africa: Opportunities to embrace multiplicity of sexualities’, Progress in Human Geography, 47(3), pp. 377–391. Available at:https://doi.org/10.1177/03091325231166402. Adriaan van Klinken (2017) Queer Studies and Religion in Contemporary Africa: Decolonizing, Post-secular Moves, The Scholar & Feminist Online. Available at: https://sfonline.barnard.edu/queer-studies-and-religion-in-contemporary-africa-decolonizing-post-secular-moves/. Hiskey, D. (2010) How ‘Gay’ Came to Mean ‘Homosexual’, Today I Found Out. Available at: https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/02/how-gay-came-to-mean-homosexual/. Tamale, S. (2013) ‘Confronting the Politics of Nonconforming Sexualities in Africa’, African Studies Review, 56(2), pp. 31–45. awo dufie fofie (2025) The Indigenous Queer Vision for a Decolonial West Africa, The Republic. Available at: https://rpublc.com/april-may-2025/indigenous-queer-vision-west-africa/. Offenses Against the person's act: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/24-25/100/contents ‌Ololade Faniyi (2025) A Queer Dream of New and Unassimilable Things, The Republic. Available at: https://rpublc.com/february-march-2025/a-queer-dream/ (Accessed: 30 January 2026). Cantoni, J. E. O (2008) Victorian Fashion: A Middle Class Makeover, WSU Collection. Available at: https://westcollections.wcsu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/86266f0a-5596-4f2c-beb1-3dc89d07cc41/content ‌Sanders D. (2008) 377 and the unnatural afterlife of British British Colonialism in Asia. Available at: https://www.sxpolitics.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/article-douglas-sanders.pdf This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit documentingqueerness.substack.com [https://documentingqueerness.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Queering the Archives

Welcome to Documenting Queerness Archive! |Episode 1| We are often considered and told we're people without history, western imports, foreign influenced. But– what is history and who decides what is archived today and what ultimately becomes history? Why do we need a queer archive that documents our lives, all the parts of it especially when it isn't violence, abuse, or numbers. Here's where to find us: Host: awo dufie föfie https://linktr.ee/awodufie Script review: PreciousGift Ebunolowa https://shorturl.at/gU1Ci We would love to hear back from you. Send us all your questions and thoughts on West African Non-heteronormativity anonymously here: https://ngl.link/transtalks or join in on our Substack conversations. Support us by: Subscribing to our Patreon and Substack Donate to our Artist Mutual Aid Fund for West African MaGes here: https://chuffed.org/project/139388-artist-mutual-aid-fund Recommended Further Readings: Rightify Ghana- Western Region Church Ministers calls Queer people foreign https://x.com/RightifyGhana/status/1659866628706672642?s=19 Featherstone, M. (2006). Archive. Theory, Culture & Society, 23(2-3), 591-596.https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276406023002106 (Original work published 2006) Mbembe, A. (2002). The Power of the Archive and its Limits (C. Hamilton Ed.; J. Inggs, Trans.). In Refiguring the Archive (pp. 19-26). Cape Town: David Phillip. Otu KE, van Klinken A. African Studies Keywords: Queer. African Studies Review. 2023;66(2):509-530. doi:10.1017/asr.2022.163 Music: Angel Maxine - Wo Fie feat Wanlov the Kubolor & Sister Deborah This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit documentingqueerness.substack.com [https://documentingqueerness.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]