Speakers:
Dr Ingrid Lynch, Triangle Project (Cape Town)
Prof Marc Epprecht, Queens University (Canada)
Nomancotsho Pakade, ActionAid (South Africa)

Venues in Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town (Videoconferencing facilities: see below)
Date: 13 May 2014
Time: 11H00 – 13H00  

How does one address homophobia without threatening majority rule democracy and freedoms of speech and faith? How does one “Africanize” sexuality research, empirically and theoretically, in an environment that is not necessarily welcoming to African scholars?  In Sexual Diversity in Africa (Edited by S. N. Nyeck & Marc Epprecht), contributors critically engage with current debates about sexuality and gender identity, as well as with contentious issues relating to methodology, epistemology, ethics, and pedagogy. They present a tapestry of issues that testify to the complex nature of sexuality, sexual practices, and gender performance in Africa. Essays examine topics such as the well-established, same-sex networks in Accra and Bamako, African “traditions” defined by European observers, and the bizarre mix of faith, pharmaceuticals, and pseudo-science used to “cure” homosexual men. Their evidence also demonstrates the indefensibility of over-simplified constructions of homosexuality versus heterosexuality, modern versus traditional, Africa versus the West, and progress from the African closet towards Western models of out politics, all of which have tainted research on same-sex practices and scientific studies of HIV/AIDS.  Asserting that the study of sexuality is intellectually and politically sustainable in Africa, Sexual Diversity in Africa contributes to the theorization of sexualities by presenting a more sensitive and knowledgeable study of African experiences and perspectives.

In this launch seminar, perspectives on these topics are offered by various discussants, including some authors of the book and one of its editors, as well as researchers who work on sexuality issues in Africa.

Kindly RSVP by 09 May 2014

Cape Town : HSRC, 12th Floor, Plein Park Building (Opposite Revenue Office), Plein Street, Cape Town. Contact Jean Witten, Tel (021) 4668004, Fax (021) 461 0299, or JWitten@hsrc.ac.za
Durban :  First floor HSRC board room, 750 Francois Road, Ntuthuko Junction, Pods 5 and 6, Cato Manor, Contact Ridhwaan Khan, Tel (031) 242 5400, cell: 083 788 2786 or RKhan@hsrc.ac.za
Pretoria : HSRC Video Conference, 1st floor HSRC Library Human Sciences Research Council, 134 Pretorius Street, Pretoria. Happy Solomon, Tel: (012) 302 2368, e-mail: hsolomon@hsrc.ac.za