Queer Africa reading list

Reading list for the session ‘Make Way for decolonizing the narrative on queerness(es) in Africa’ during the Feminist Foreign Policy Conference 2023, The Hague in The Netherlands.

Books

• Camminga B., Matebeni, Z. (2020). Beyond the Mountain: queer life in “Africa’s gay capital”. UNISA Press.
• Edwards I., Epprecht M. (2020). Working class homosexuality in South African history: Voices from the archives.
• Epprecht M. (2008). Heterosexual Africa? The History of an Idea from the Age of Exploration to the Age of AIDS. Ohio University Press.
• Matabeni Z. (2014). Reclaiming Afrikan: queer perspectives on sexual and gender identities. Modjaji Books.
• Matebeni Z., Monro S. (2018). Queer in Africa: LGBTQI Identities, Citizenship and Activism.
• Scott J. (2024). Home is Where Your Politics Are: Queer Activism in the US South and South Africa. Rutgers University Press.
• Spurlin W.J. (2007). Imperialism within the Margins: Queer Representation and the Politics of Culture in Southern Africa. Palgrave Macmillan New York.
• van Klinken A. (2019). Kenyan, Christian, Queer: Religion, LGBT Activism, and Arts of Resistance in Africa. Penn State University Press.
• van Klinken A., Stiebert J., et al (2021). Sacred Queer Stories: Ugandan LGBTQ+ Refugee Lives & the Bible. James Currey.

Papers and reports

• Adera G.O. (2022). Black, Queer, and Christian: Exploring Sexuality as an Emerging Contour of Black Theology. https://doi.org/10.1111/erev.12723
• Adera G.O. (2020). ‘Jesus Christ the Hustler’: A Kenotic Christopraxis for the Hustler Generation in postcolonial Kenya. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355208114_’Jesus_Christ_the_Hustler’_A_Kenotic_Christopraxis_for_the_Hustler_Generation_in_postcolonial_Kenya
• Adera G.O. (2021). Nia-Buntu as a Post-covid 19 Imperative for encountering ‘the other’ amongst us: The Case of The Cosmopolitan Affirming Church (CAC)-Nairobi Kenya. Liberation Theologies conference. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/355208032_Nia-Buntu_as_a_Post-covid_19_Imperative_for_encountering_’the_other’_amongst_us_The_Case_of_The_Cosmopolitan_Affirming_Church_CAC-Nairobi_Kenya
• Epprecht M. (2014). The Gay Oral History Project in Zimbabwe: Black Empowerment, Human Rights, and the Research Process*. Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/history-in-africa/article/gay-oral-history-project-in-zimbabwe-black-empowerment-human-rights-and-the-research-process/160FBF959FB659BE8E4812D8D6A745CA
• Funders for LGBTQ Issues (2018). 2018 Tracking Report: LGBTQ Grantmaking by U.S. Foundations. https://lgbtfunders.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2020.04.02_FINAL_2018TrackingReport_08.pdf
• Global Philanthropy Project (2022). Global Resources Report 2019-2020: Government and Philanthropic Support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex Communities. https://globalresourcesreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/GRR_2019-2020_EN_colour_double-page.pdf

Articles

• Alimi B. (2015). If you say being gay is not African, you don’t know your history. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/sep/09/being-gay-african-history-homosexuality-christianity
• Alozie B. (2021). Did Europe Bring Homophobia to Africa? Black Perspectives. https://www.aaihs.org/did-europe-bring-homophobia-to-africa/
• Buckle L. (2020). African sexuality and the legacy of imported homophobia. https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/african-sexuality-and-legacy-imported-homophobia
• Decolonial Thoughts (2021). Gay is African. Queerness is African. The Native. https://thenativemag.com/gay-is-african/
• Migraine-George T., Currier A. (2016). Querying Queer African Archives: Methods and Movements. Women’s Studies Quarterly Vol. 44, No. 3/4. https://www.jstor.org/stable/44474069
• Opara O. (2021). Africa and its queer history: I am not less African. Exposure Organisation Limited. https://exposure.org.uk/2021/02/africa-and-its-queer-history-i-am-not-less-african/
• Macharia K. (2009). Review: Queering African Studies. African Intimacies: Race, Homosexuality, and Globalization. Criticism Vol. 51, No. 1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23131442
• Sandfort T.G.M., Reddy V. (2013). African same-sex sexuality and gender-diversity: an introduction. Cult Health Sex. 2013; 15(Suppl): 1–6. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2013.797218
• Tawe E.R. (2020). Six LGBTQ+ figures from African history. Africa is a Country. https://africasacountry.com/2020/07/six-lgbtq-figures-from-african-history