The Decolonization Of Homosexuality In Zimbabwe

Political leaders throughout Africa claim that homosexuality is an un-African, western import that was brought to Africa by European colonists. This claim is often utilized by these same leaders to justify the continued prevalence of state homophobia - laws and policies that criminalize homosexuality and explicit anti-homosexual sentiment expressed by political leaders. Through an examination of the history of sexuality in Zimbabwe, from homosexual behaviors documented in pre-colonial Zimbabwe to the introduction of state homophobia during the colonial period to the maintenance and expansion of these anti-homosexual policies and attitudes into the post-colonial modern day, I argue that state homophobia, not homosexuality, is a product of colonialism. This prevalence of state homophobia in post-colonial Zimbabwe can be understood as a product of colonization, contributing to the ongoing conversation concerning the definition of decolonization, and illuminating a gap in decolonial literature regarding African sexuality.

Even as African states are currently legislating against homosexuality in order to protect their societies, there are some emergent Eurocentric discourses seeking to legalize bestiality involving sex between humans and nonhuman animals. Indeed, binaries between humans and nonhumans are being challenged, and speciesism is being deconstructed to pave the way for interspecies sex. Critically interrogating these dissident and subversive sexualities in novel ways, this book also deals with emergent humanoid sex robots which are challenging human marriages and families, by replacing human spouses. The book is relevant to anthropologists, sociologists, lawyers, legislators, politicians, theologians, historians, philosophers and educators. “Huge commendations are due for the gargantuan work done on this book which speaks to the past, present and future of African sexualities. These are revolutionary thoughts that change the traditional Western scholarship landscape in the field of sexualities. The book inculcates and imparts African people-centred strategic architectural futuristic flavor for building Africa’s competitive positioning in the discourses on sexualities for the centuries ahead. Indeed, it is commendable and deserves an award for revitalizing Africanity and Africanism renaissance. I am sure this book is going to stimulate broad discussions from Africa and the rest of the world which have sadly been fed with Eurocentric single stories on African sexualities.” Professor Eginald P. Mihanjo, Saint Augustine University of Tanzania “This is a must-read book. It grapples with the important question: ‘Why the West would want to decolonize only by ‘returning’ homosexuality to Africans and not by returning African land, artefacts, skulls and skeletons?’ The book challenges the systemic humanophobic mission, orchestrated by neo- capitalists in the Euro-American world and their allies in Africa. Until we hold together the ethical and ontological boundaries of marriage as a divine-cultural mandate, secured in its sociogenic logicality, all the debates about decolonization will not save us from the ultimate crime of promoting ontological disorderliness.” Charles Prempeh, PhD (Cantab), Research Fellow, Centre for Cultural and African Studies, Kumasi, Ghana, and author of Gender, Sexuality and Decolonisation in Postcolonial Ghana: A Socio-Philosophical Engagement

First published in 1990. This volume is essentially a study in decolonization. The approach of the author is of a conflict resolution process taken from the perspective of 1974 as the chosen point. Following the decolonization of the Portuguese colonial empire, the uniqueness of the decolonization of Rhodesia became more apparent and the conflict began to realize its full potential. The author has taken three analytical concepts- the goals' continuum, the strategic options' continuum and the interaction within and between the three levels of the conflict system.

Homosexuality - or hungochani as it is known in Zimbabwe - has been denounced by many politicians and church leaders as an example of how Western decadence has corrupted African traditions. However, a bold new gay rights movement has emerged in several of the countries of the region since the 1980s, offering an exciting new dimension in the broad struggle for human rights and democracy unfolding on the continent.

Welcome To Our Hillbrow is an exhilarating and disturbing ride through the chaotic and hyper-real zone of Hillbrow - microcosm of all that is contradictory, alluring and painful in the changing South African psyche. Everything is there: the shattered dreams of youth, sexuality and its unpredictable costs, AIDS, xenophobia, suicide, the omnipotent violence that often cuts short the promise of young people, and the Africanist understanding of the life continuum that does not end with death but flows on into an ancestral realm. Infused with the rhythms of the inner city pulsebeat, this courageous novel is compelling in its honesty and its broad vision, which links Hillbrow, rural Tiragalong and Oxford. It spills out the guts of Hillbrow-living with the same energy and intimate knowledge ,with which the Drum writers wrote Sophiatown into being.

Since the turn of the millennium, in Ghana and in other African countries, there has been a vociferous debate over the history and present condition of the family. The debate has largely fragmented the Ghanaian constituency into two nearly intransigent camps: those who think the indigenous family system should experience cultural osmosis to accommodate the seismic Western cultural revolutions and the overwhelming religious constituency who advocate the retention of conservative family system. This book is a contribution to the debate. Written by an African Studies academic, it seeks to use the resources of both the social sciences and religion to assess the merits of the various parties to the debate. The author believes in the legitimacy of the traditional family system as conditio sine qua non for preserving human civilization. Nevertheless, the goal of this book is not to further polarize the Ghanaian front, but build bridges, by inviting the various parties to the debate to walk the complex pathways of exercising compassion without compromising the values that support human flourishing. Charles Prempeh is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Cultural and African Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana.