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Date of Award
Spring 2020
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Historical & Political Studies; College of Arts & Sciences
First Advisor
Jennifer Riggan
Abstract
Discrimination against queer and gender diverse people is a universal issue often rooted in cultural understandings of gender and sexuality. Notably, there is a dominant narrative in many formerly-colonized nations that homosexuality, and to varying extents, gender diversity are foreign concepts that were imported by Western nations during the colonial era. In South Africa and India, the narrative that same-sex sexual practices and gender-variant identities are “unAfrican” or “unIndian” is a dangerous ideology that manifests in widespread violence and marginalization. This thesis will explore the origins of why this narrative exists and remains so influential in popular culture and politics today. In doing so, this thesis will argue that colonization should be regarded as a catalyst for the intensification and institutionalization of queerphobia in South Africa and India, and not as a process that created these practices and identities. The impact of colonization on African and Indian people is reflected in profound changes to conceptions of gender and sexuality that occurred as a result of British colonial policy, criminalization, and cultural domination. In analyzing these transformations born out of an oppressive colonial system, this thesis will convey how colonization has ultimately led to significant cultural and historical erasure which serves in perpetuating this harmful, inaccurate narrative.
Recommended Citation
Donovan, Clare, "“We are not gays!”: Queer practices and identities as Foreign in South Africa and India" (2020). Capstone Showcase. 23.
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/showcase/2020/is/23
“We are not gays!”: Queer practices and identities as Foreign in South Africa and India
Discrimination against queer and gender diverse people is a universal issue often rooted in cultural understandings of gender and sexuality. Notably, there is a dominant narrative in many formerly-colonized nations that homosexuality, and to varying extents, gender diversity are foreign concepts that were imported by Western nations during the colonial era. In South Africa and India, the narrative that same-sex sexual practices and gender-variant identities are “unAfrican” or “unIndian” is a dangerous ideology that manifests in widespread violence and marginalization. This thesis will explore the origins of why this narrative exists and remains so influential in popular culture and politics today. In doing so, this thesis will argue that colonization should be regarded as a catalyst for the intensification and institutionalization of queerphobia in South Africa and India, and not as a process that created these practices and identities. The impact of colonization on African and Indian people is reflected in profound changes to conceptions of gender and sexuality that occurred as a result of British colonial policy, criminalization, and cultural domination. In analyzing these transformations born out of an oppressive colonial system, this thesis will convey how colonization has ultimately led to significant cultural and historical erasure which serves in perpetuating this harmful, inaccurate narrative.