"Homosexuality in 'Traditional' Sub-Saharan Africa and Contemporary
South Africa"
An overview by Stephen O. Murray
On Apr 27, 12:52 pm, Lavonda Staples <lrstap...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Tracy, I'm offering this to you. I'm not an African. I'm a Black American
> woman of obvious African descent. Here's what I have to say regarding what
> appears like homophobia in Africa (and I really and truly request that you
> pick a country and not continue to say "Africa"). Ready? Here goes:
>
> I don't know much. I'm just giving you what I got and you can take it or
> leave it. If we pick the Yoruba culture there are linguistic, religious,
> and artistic elements which glorify the feminine. Even to the every day
> beauty of those staccato hip movements (I call it the booty flip) we know
> that these people do not deny the power of one who assists the Creator.
>
> As anyone who ever read "Things Fall Apart" knows the greatest sins are (1)
> suicide and (2) being unable to produce children/child killing. Children
> are treasure, they are abundance, they are fertility and they are life.
>
> No matter what you do or say if you put two men or two women in the bed -
> ain't nobody gonna get pregnant. Lack of fertility creates a civil death in
> these societies. Who will take care of you? Who will learn the story of
> your family? Who will you give your knowledge? For that matter, what will
> you talk about with the other folks around the table/fireplace/inground
> pool/village pond? My Nigerians friends and professors are constantly
> amazing me with their dedication - to the end of all things - to their
> children. By extension, the remittance economies of Ghana, Nigeria, et al
> are proof positive of the need to cultivate children and elders.
>
> So, it may indeed be homophobia. To answer the question, "Are their great
> African leaders who were homosexual" is a worthwhile endeavour. But when
> you combine homosexuality with the subjugation of men and boys into sexual
> slavery you are mixing two things which have nothing in common. I do
> believe that people are born gay. I do not believe it is a choice. Sexual
> slavery TAKES AWAY that choice and that is why the subjects do not belong in
> the same paragraph. One thing simply is and the other thing is created.
>
> Just my nearly ignorant two cents....
>
> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 11:22 PM, Tracy Flemming <cafenegrit...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Writing about Joseph Fairchild Beam
>
> > I am in the early stages of developing a project on the history of
> > homosexuality and Africa. Some of you may be familiar with the work of
> > Joseph Fairchild Beam. His writings have played a critical role in the
> > development of the activist and intellectual landscape in the African
> > diaspora and in Africa. "Black men loving Black men" is a
> > revolutionary act…those are indeed still revolutionary sentiments.
> > They engage us and inspire us to think about things from the
> > perspective of one who can write about a topic that touches on aspects
> > of life which we have been taught to hide. For example, Joseph
> > Fairchild Beam was not a person who I learned about at an elite
> > historically Black college for men like Morehouse College in the
> > Department of History or in the African American Studies Program ….
>
> > Beam wrote about the politics of identification in the African world
> > in his essay "Brother to Brother: Words from the Heart." He described
> > an anger filled him as much as water, that he, too, like Audre Lorde,
> > knew anger as a creative force. Creative anger has defined much of the
> > history of homosexuality in the African diaspora and Africa but not
> > exclusively.
>
> > The work of Joseph Beam can open new windows of interpretation in the
> > study of Africa and its diaspora, for African and African American
> > histories are inextricably bound; they are in dialogue. My ongoing
> > research on the controversy surrounding a pan-Africanist whose
> > criticism of missionizing Christianity and his openness to Islam
> > alienated him from western people of African descent (i.e., Edward
> > Wilmot Blyden) is also interlaced with my own subject position as a
> > writer, historian, and scholar of Africa. Beam reminds us that we have
> > to make ourselves from scratch. A recent article on Beam can be found
> > at the following link:
>
> >http://www.thegavoice.com/index.php/aae/38-feature/2096-in-the-life-p...
> > .
>
> > On Pre-colonial, colonial, and post-colonial contexts, see _Boy-Wives
> > and Female-Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities_ Will Roscoe
> > and Stephen O. Murray, Editor, for a general overview of the sub-
> > field:http://us.macmillan.com/boywivesandfemalehusbands.
>
> > _In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology_ (new edition)
> >http://www.redbonepress.com/books/inthelife/index.htm
>
> > Any assistance with this developing project is greatly appreciated in
> > advance.
>
> > --
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> --
> La Vonda R. Staples
> Adjunct Professor, Department of Social Sciences
> Community College of the District of Columbia
> 314-570-6483
>
> "It is the duty of all who have been fortunate to receive an education to
> assist others in the same pursuit."
--
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