The spectre of cultural and religious relativism has dogged African women’s rights activists for decades, particularly in the area of sexual and reproductive human rights. In Uganda, such debates and tensions were manifest in the rapid successive passing of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, the Anti-Pornography Act and the HIV Prevention & Control Act. A policy adopted […]
Articles & Poetry
Religious Leadership and the Re-Politicisation of Gender and Sexuality in Cameroon
This article examines the role of religious actors in the emergence of sexual politics in Cameroon. Apart from arguing that the Catholic Archbishop Victor T. Mbakot, Cardinal Christian W. Tumi, and the private media were the key actors in the public debate of homosexuality, the article argues that their actions created the moral sexual panic […]
Tell me about that woman
This is my story, I have longed to tell, To all those who are willing to listen, To help me find my way! This is my story, the hidden secret of life, Which mama Africa ought to hear, Treat all women, with respect, dignity and justice. This is my story I can only tell, One […]
African Religions, the Parapolitics of Discretion and Sexual Ambiguity in African Oral Epics1
Does religion and cultural imagination matter in the understanding of the controversy about sexual orientation in Africa today? This contribution articulates the importance of religious beliefs and cultural imagination in documenting not just oppression, but also ambiguous sites for theorising sociopolitical identities in Africa. I explore the idea of ambiguity within African religions and oral […]
Thank You For Making Me Strong: Sexuality, Gender and Environmental Spirituality
The article seeks to situate issues of sexuality and gender orientation in an ecological perspective. It is well known that most plant species are not two-gendered, although a few trees are like the human species: male, female and intersex. Some animal species, such as snails, are fully intersex. Moreover, over 450 animal species have been […]