B Camminga | Wits University (original) (raw)

Papers by B Camminga

Gender, Place & Culture

Established in 1992 and located in North Western Kenya, Kakuma Refugee Camp, comprised of Kakuma ... more Established in 1992 and located in North Western Kenya, Kakuma Refugee Camp, comprised of Kakuma 1, 2, 3 and 4, has an estimated population of 180,000 people. Since its establishment, the camp has functioned as a refuge for many of those fleeing various forms of violence and persecution in the East African region, not least people experiencing persecution on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression. A recent report suggests that the camp currently hosts more than 170 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) asylum seekers registered with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), many of whom are from Uganda. In 2016, it was reported that LGBT people were sectioned off in a different area of Kakuma in an effort to ensure their safety. The UNHCR has asked LGBT asylum seekers within the camp to practice a certain amount of “discretion”, so as not to draw unnecessary attention to themselves or “blow their cover as LGBTI refugees”. It is notable that those least able to engage in some form of discretion and most likely to be thought of as the epitome of homosexuality are often transgender asylum seekers. Indeed transgender people within the camp are considered to be among those most visible and by extension “most hated” (Naluzze 2018). Refugee camps are often posed as non-spaces, places of displacement, places of exile and enforced invisibility. In light of this, how might we conceive of those encamped within the camp? How might we think of a designated space within non-space? How might we understand the extreme visibility of transgender people in relation to their encampment and the perception that they are the preeminent example of homosexuality in relation to the tensions around discretion and invisibility? Drawing on Agamben’s (2005) notion of migrants as homo sacer — those excluded through inclusion — this paper seeks to rethink states of exception in relation to transgender asylum seekers within Kakuma, noting their dual existence in what Alumine Monroe (2002) has theorised as states of hyper-visibility and seeming bureaucratic invisibility in a space, the refugee camp, constructed upon the logic of invisibility. Moreover, this paper seeks to consider what it might mean to exist in a lifelong state of precariousness and suffering to be orientated as such, which rather than being afforded minor reprieve in Kakuma, as a UNHCR-run refugee camp, is prolonged.

BJPsych Open

Background Owing to multiple, complex and intersecting health inequities, systemic oppression and... more Background Owing to multiple, complex and intersecting health inequities, systemic oppression and violence and discrimination in their home countries, some transgender people are forced to migrate to countries that offer them better legal protection and wider social acceptance. Aims This review sought to explore and understand the multiple factors that shape the mental health outcomes of transgender forced migrants (TFMs). Method We systematically searched nine electronic databases for multidisciplinary literature (PROSPERO ID: CRD42020183062). We used a meta-ethnographic approach to synthesise data. We completed a quality appraisal and developed a socio-ecological model to draw together our findings. Results We retrieved 3399 records and screened titles, abstracts and full text to include 24 qualitative studies in this review. The synthesis identified individual survival strategies and factors in interpersonal, organisational and societal environments that contributed to profound d...

Consumption Markets and Culture, 2021

Synthetic testosterone, is an object born of heteronormative sexual anxiety, invented for use by ... more Synthetic testosterone, is an object born of heteronormative sexual anxiety, invented for use by cisgender men. Today, synthetic testosterone functions, as an element of gender-affirming healthcare for specific segments of the trans population. We approach testosterone, throughout this paper, as a technical object and as such a raw material of gender in South Africa. Providing a close reading of South African Medical Journal (SAMJ), we trace the emergence, production, and linguistic life of this technical object as a site of heteronormative anxiety and consider the absent-presence of trans masculinity and trans men in relation to this. Drawing on images created by three South African trans men on Instagram, we explore the technical object’s representations/absences as a material of gendered joy in South Africa. We suggest that the self-representation of the technical object by trans men on Instagram makes it a happy object, one whose consumption is deeply intertwined with joy.

African Security, 2021

COVID-19 has exposed deep economic and social fissures across societies. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, ... more COVID-19 has exposed deep economic and social fissures across societies. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) people are but one community whose marginalization, through this exposure, has been exacerbated. Given a history of criminalization on the African continent, in particular, LGBTQI+ people have come into stark visibility as citizens and, increasingly significantly, asylum seekers and refugees while contending with their absence from any form of pandemic planning. In this paper, I suggest that not only are we seeing a rise, linked to COVID-19, in insecurity experienced by African-based LGBTQI+ people but that this will have long term effects, one of which will be increased migration. Drawing on reports and empirical studies tracking the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQI+ people and research and theory from the fields of disaster studies and queer African studies, in this paper, I approach COVID-19 as a disaster event. Applying a queer lens to disaster, I argue that if we read the historical stigmatization and criminalization of these communities as having led to the emergence of a growing LGBTQI+ refugee population, both on and off the African continent, then the outcome of a disaster that exacerbates preexisting vulnerabilities can only mean the inevi- table swelling of this populations numbers. However, as states globally use COVID-19 to further secure borders, curtailing asylum and resettlement, it is increasingly likely that these refugees will remain on the African continent. If that is the case, it would seem that ongoing criminalization may no longer be feasible.

Critical Studies on Security

Liberating Comparisons, 2020

TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2017

South Africa is the only country on the African continent that not only recognizes but also const... more South Africa is the only country on the African continent that not only recognizes but also constitutionally protects and offers asylum to transgender-identified individuals. On entering the country, an individual has fourteen days to report to a Refugee Reception Office and apply for asylum. To access a center, asylum seekers are required to queue. Faced with two separate lines, one for men and one for women-much like the issues surrounding transgender access to public bathroomsgender refugees approaching the South African state for asylum are immediately forced to make a choice. This queue also creates the conditions for surveillance, particularly as different regions are serviced on different days, which brings together the same asylum seekers from similar regions on the continent. This can make life for those who transition in South Africa doubly exposing, as they possibly move between queues witnessed by local communities. This article questions the necessity of an ever-ubiquitous system of sex/gender identification in the lives of asylum seekers, noting current developments internationally, regionally, and locally in relation to the development of thirdgender categories, "X" category passports, the suppression of gender markers, and wider debates about the removal and necessity of sex/gender identifiers on documents and their impact.

The Sociological Review Monographs, 2020

In March of 2017, best-selling Nigerian author and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in an inter... more In March of 2017, best-selling Nigerian author and feminist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, in an interview with Britain’s Channel 4, was asked whether being a trans woman makes one any less of a ‘real woman?’ In the clip, which went viral shortly thereafter, Adichie responded by saying ‘When people talk about, “Are trans women women?” my feeling is trans women are trans women.’ Echoing the essentialist, predominantly white Global Northern, feminist politics of trans-exclusionary feminists (TERFs), by implying that trans women are not ‘real’ women because, as she assumes, they benefited from male privilege, Adichie set off a social media maelstrom. The publicised responses to her comments largely came from feminists and trans women in the Global North, and though many trans people from the African continent responded, with hashtags such as #ChimamandaKilledME, very few of these received any attention. As the hashtag suggests, for trans people living on the African continent, given the general lack of recourse to rights, Adichie’s words as an African writer carry considerable weight. Given this, the absence of media attention is curious. This article offers a recentring, by focusing on those voices, maligned in the broader debate – trans people from the African continent. I argue that while Adichie might be stumbling over the questions that lie at the heart of TERF politics (what does it mean to be a woman? and does it matter how a person arrives at being a woman?), trans women on the African continent have been busy reconstituting the terms of the terrain.

International Journal of Gender, Sexuality and Law , 2020

In 2017 a surprising development took place in an African nation with no lesbian, gay, bisexual o... more In 2017 a surprising development took place in an African nation with no lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) rights or protections to speak of. In two separate cases, one involving a transgender man and the other a transgender woman, the Botswana High Court ruled in favour of the two litigants. The rulings allowed each to have their gender markers on their identity documents adjusted. This was a historical first on the African continent. This paper explores how this came to pass. Providing a close reading of the Botswana cases I contend that, perhaps surprisingly, the law though crucial, seems to function as simply the final decision-making tool at the judges' disposal. Drawing on interviews undertaken with both litigants and their legal teams alongside available media including op-eds’ by members of the litigation team, I provide a comparative analysis of the two cases. I argue that each case followed a distinct strategy and that this may prove pertinent to future jurisprudence in the region. Beyond the much-derided framing of gender identity as a human right in Africa, in cases such as these it would seem that for transgender people, the heteronormative ways in which litigants are presented, along with their public in/visibility and perceived im/mobility can be critical to their outcomes.

Gender Questions, 2020

In 2011, Miss Sahhara, a transgender woman from Nigeria with UK refugee status, was crowned First... more In 2011, Miss Sahhara, a transgender woman from Nigeria with UK refugee status, was crowned First Princess at the world’s largest and most prestigious beauty pageant for transgender women—Miss International Queen. The then Cultural Minister of Nigeria when contacted for comment responded that if she was transgender, she could not be Nigerian, and if she was Nigerian, she could not be transgender—a tacit denial of her very existence. In recent years, LGBT people “fleeing Africa” to the “Global North” has become a common media trope. Responses to this, emanating from a variety of African voices, have provided a more nuanced reading of sexuality. What has been absent from these readings has been the role of gender expression, particularly a consideration of transgender experiences. I understand transgender refugees to have taken up “lines of flight” such that, in a Deleuzian sense, they do not only flee persecution in countries of origin but also recreate or speak back to systems of control and oppressive social conditions. Some transgender people who have left, like Miss Sahhara, have not gone silently, using digital means to project a new political visibility of individuals, those who are both transgender and African, back at the African continent. In Miss Sahhara’s case, this political visibility has not gone unnoticed in the Nigerian tabloid press. Drawing on the story of Miss Sahhara, this paper maps these flows and contraflows, asking what they might reveal about configurations of nationhood, gender and sexuality as they are formed at both the digital and physical interstices between Africa and the Global North.

Global Discourse, 2018

Gays Engage’ was the headline of Malawi’s Nation newspaper on 28 December 2009. A colour photogra... more Gays Engage’ was the headline of Malawi’s Nation newspaper on 28 December 2009. A colour photograph dominated the front page showing Steven Monjeza and what the paper described as ‘his bride’, Tiwonge Chimbalanga. Arrested soon after and charged with ‘unnatural offences’ under the Malawi Penal Code, the couple made international headlines. Yet the situation was far more complex than the news media or transnational NGOs intimated. While the case was being touted as ‘a test case for gay rights’ the court documents noted that Tiwonge, assigned male, identified as a woman. Rights groups called for South Africa – the only country on the African continent that constitutionally protects Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals – to not only advocate for the couple’s release but to offer them asylum. In 2010, after receiving a presidential pardon, Chimbalanga was sent to South Africa where she was granted refugee status. Offering a post-colonial reading of transgender, this paper asks what it would mean for a person to be seen as transgender, to be presumed to be transgender, but to never take on that term for themselves – to refuse that subjectivity – while seeking asylum.

Africa Spectrum, 2018

South Africa is the only country on the African continent that constitutionally protects transgen... more South Africa is the only country on the African continent that constitutionally protects transgender asylum seekers. In light of this, it has seen a marked rise in the emergence of this category of person within the asylum system. Drawing on research carried out between 2012 and 2015, I argue that transgender-identified refugees or “gender refugees” from Africa, living in South Africa, rather than accessing refuge continue to experience significant hindrances to their survival comparable with the persecution experienced in their countries of origin. I argue this is in part due to the nature of their asylum claim in relation to gender as a wider system of “common-sense” dichotomous administration, something which remains relatively constant across countries of origin and refugee-receiving countries. Rather than being protected gender refugees, because they are read as violating the rules of normative gender, they find themselves paradoxically with rights, but unable to access them

Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, 2017

Within Africa’s long history of migration this article focuses on the specific context of South A... more Within Africa’s long history of migration this article focuses on the specific context of South Africa’s recent influx of people fleeing persecution, violence and discrimination on the grounds of their gender identity/expression. This paper conceptualises people who can make claims to refugee status, fleeing their countries of origin based on the persecution of their gender identity as ‘gender refugees’. I argue that gender refugees are different from sexual refugees in that their pre-dominant forced migration issue pertains to their gender identity, which is perceived as incongruent to their birth-assigned sex. Drawing on life story interviews carried out by the author between 2013 and 2015 with gender refugees living in South Africa, along with analysis of media and archival materials, this paper explores how, when, and under what circumstances transgender-identified individuals from countries in Africa are forced to journey, and come to seek refuge in South Africa specifically. Utilising the notions of ‘shifting’ and ‘discomfort’ as analytics in relation to narratives provided I suggest that South Africa functions as a pan-African national imaginary, thus even for migrants, which represents a particular understanding of freedom due to widespread knowledge of its unique Constitutional precepts. In conclusion I emphasise how the State in gender refugees countries of origin, which sanctions the possibility of death for transgender people as exemplary subjects, plays an especially transformative role in the decision to flee.

Global Humanities: Gender and Public Opinion, 2017

MultiChoice Africa, one of the largest continental digital satellite television services, has in ... more MultiChoice Africa, one of the largest continental digital satellite television services, has in recent years consistently pulled programs with transgender-specific content. This has been based on complaints from the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) suggesting that these shows promote ‘homosexuality’, are a ‘danger to children’ and are the harbinger of ‘undesirable ideas that would offend the Nigerian public’. These shows include the American-produced shows I am Cait and I am Jazz. Interestingly, the censorship has not been delimited to Nigeria - the source of these complaints - but rather the programs have been pulled from schedules cross-continently. This paper explores the political impact and symbolic meaning of the withdrawal of shows with positive trans-specific content in light of the fact that transgender characters have recently begun to appear in Nollywood (the cinema of Nigeria) movies, such as the four part series ABBA, as sites of derision and mockery. As countries across the African continent continue to debate LGBT rights, this paper argues that public opinion regarding issues relating to gender - and by extension sexuality - are not formed in a vacuum. Rather available popular cultural media narratives play a key role, alongside those of African state leaders and religious figures, in shaping and reinforcing understandings regarding gender and sexuality. This paper considers what it might mean when the most populous country on the African continent with the largest economy and a history of virulent anti-LGBT sentiment (visible in legislation such as the 2014 ‘Anti-Gay’ Bill), is able to dictate what is permissible continentally based on what it suggests is public opinion.

South Africa is the only country on the African continent that not only recognizes but also const... more South Africa is the only country on the African continent that not only recognizes but also constitutionally protects and offers asylum to transgender-identified individuals. On entering the country, an individual has fourteen days to report to a Refugee Reception Office and apply for asylum. To access a center, asylum seekers are required to queue. Faced with two separate lines, one for men and one for women—much like the issues surrounding transgender access to public bathrooms— gender refugees approaching the South African state for asylum are immediately forced to make a choice. This queue also creates the conditions for surveillance, particularly as different regions are serviced on different days, which brings together the same asylum seekers from similar regions on the continent. This can make life for those who transition in South Africa doubly exposing, as they possibly move between queues witnessed by local communities. This article questions the necessity of an ever-ubiquitous system of sex/gender identification in the lives of asylum seekers, noting current developments internationally, regionally, and locally in relation to the development of third- gender categories, “X” category passports, the suppression of gender markers, and wider debates about the removal and necessity of sex/gender identifiers on documents and their impact.

Gender, Place & Culture

BJPsych Open

Consumption Markets and Culture, 2021

African Security, 2021

Critical Studies on Security

Liberating Comparisons, 2020

TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 2017

The Sociological Review Monographs, 2020

International Journal of Gender, Sexuality and Law , 2020

Gender Questions, 2020

Global Discourse, 2018

Africa Spectrum, 2018

Tijdschrift voor Genderstudies, 2017

Global Humanities: Gender and Public Opinion, 2017

South Africa is the only country on the African continent that not only recognizes but also const... more South Africa is the only country on the African continent that not only recognizes but also constitutionally protects and offers asylum to transgender-identified individuals. On entering the country, an individual has fourteen days to report to a Refugee Reception Office and apply for asylum. To access a center, asylum seekers are required to queue. Faced with two separate lines, one for men and one for women—much like the issues surrounding transgender access to public bathrooms— gender refugees approaching the South African state for asylum are immediately forced to make a choice. This queue also creates the conditions for surveillance, particularly as different regions are serviced on different days, which brings together the same asylum seekers from similar regions on the continent. This can make life for those who transition in South Africa doubly exposing, as they possibly move between queues witnessed by local communities. This article questions the necessity of an ever-ubiquitous system of sex/gender identification in the lives of asylum seekers, noting current developments internationally, regionally, and locally in relation to the development of third- gender categories, “X” category passports, the suppression of gender markers, and wider debates about the removal and necessity of sex/gender identifiers on documents and their impact.

Keynote Address for the Third Annual Africa Trans Health, Advocacy and Research Conference

Anxious Joburg: The inner lives of a Global South city, 2020

When I come here for me, my perspective about South Africa is that it is a gay-friendly country. ... more When I come here for me, my perspective about South Africa is that it is a gay-friendly country. .. when I. .. get in the plane I was crying because I felt relieved. I say, 'Oh my God!' and I cried. There was a. .. woman on the plane who said, 'Why are you crying?' I know why I am crying. I know because I was feeling, when we land to Johannesburg I will say, 'Thank you, God, now I am safe!' (Alex, 10 August 2012). 1 S outh Africa is the only country on the African continent that recognises sexual orientation and gender-including gender identity and expression-as human rights, enshrined within the country's Constitution (1996). 2 Although other countries across the continent have increasingly begun to decriminalise homosexuality, most recently Angola and Botswana, South Africa is the only country that offers particular rights and protections to transgender people, including access to affirming health care. In recent years, in part owing to these far-reaching constitutional protections, the country has seen the emergence of a relatively new class of refugee-those who identify as transgender or 'gender refugees'. 3 In essence, these are people who can make claims to refugee status, fleeing their countries of origin because of the persecution of their gender identities.

Queer and Trans African Mobilities: Migration, Asylum and Diaspora, 2022

In 2011, Miss Sahhara, a transgender woman from Nigeria with British refugee status, was crowned ... more In 2011, Miss Sahhara, a transgender woman from Nigeria with British refugee status, was crowned Miss International Queen First Princess. Held annually in Thailand, Miss International Queen is considered to be the world’s most prestigious beauty pageant for transgender women. As the first woman of colour to enter the pageant – let alone win a crown – Miss Sahhara immediately drew international attention. The then cultural minister of Nigeria was contacted to comment on her triumph. He responded that if she was transgender, she could not be Nigerian, and if she was Nigerian, she could not be transgender – a tacit denial of her very existence. In response, Miss Sahhara engaged in an active “war with Nigeria through the internet”. In essence using digital means to project an identity that is both transgender and African, back at the African continent. In Miss Sahhara’s case, this political visibility did not go unnoticed. The Nigerian tabloid press often publishes salacious online articles about her life carrying titles such as “Untold Story Of Miss Sahara, The Nigerian Man From Idoma Transformed To A Woman”. These articles often carry her 'deadname', images of her pre-transition and dissect her physical body for signs of deception. These tabloids can do so without threat because Miss Sahhara is both a refugee and transgender, having, in some sense, rescinded her claim to Nigerian citizenship. I understand this archive as being of particular importance regarding how we might come to understand trans existence and global flows of identity and information regarding trans African identity. Yet, to even cite these articles, let alone reflect on their content, is to become complicit in their harm. Drawing on the digital diasporic elements of the African transgender archive this paper grapples with the ethical questions of citation and the archive in the digital age.

Queer and Trans African Mobilities: Migration, Asylum and Diaspora, 2022

Recent years have seen increased scholarly and media interest in the cross-border movements of LG... more Recent years have seen increased scholarly and media interest in the cross-border movements of LGBT persons, particularly those seeking protection in the Global North . While this has helped focus attention on the plight of individuals fleeing homophobic or transphobic persecution, it has also reinvigorated racist tropes about the Global South.

In the case of Africa, the expansion of anti-LGBT laws and the prevalence of hetero-patriarchal discourses are regularly cited as evidence of an inescapable savagery. The figure of the LGBT refugee – often portrayed as helplessly awaiting rescue – reinforces colonial notions about the continent and its peoples.

Queer and Trans African Mobilities draws on diverse case studies from the length and breadth of Africa, offering the first in-depth investigation of LGBT migration on and from the continent. The collection provides new insights into the drivers and impacts of displacement linked to sexual orientation or gender identity and challenges notions about why LGBT Africans move, where they are going and what they experience along the way

Invisible displacements in African transnational spaces, 2020

Refugee camps are often posed as non-spaces, places of displacement, places of exile and enforced invisibility. In light of this, how might we conceive of those encamped within the camp? How might we think of a designated space within non-space? How might we understand the extreme visibility of transgender people in relation to their encampment and the perception that they are the preeminent example of homosexuality in relation to the tensions around discretion and invisibility? Drawing on Agamben’s (2005) notion of migrants as homo sacer — those excluded through inclusion — this paper seeks to rethink states of exception in relation to transgender asylum seekers within Kakuma, noting their dual existence in what Alumine Monroe (2002) has theorised as states of hyper-visibility and seeming bureaucratic invisibility in a space, the refugee camp, constructed upon the logic of invisibility. Moreover, this paper seeks to consider what it might mean to exist in a lifelong state of precariousness and suffering to be orientated as such, which rather than being afforded minor reprieve in Kakuma, as a UNHCR-run refugee camp, is prolonged.

Waiting and the Temporalities of Irregular Migration, 2020

Since the 2013 passage of Uganda’s now infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB), the number of Afri... more Since the 2013 passage of Uganda’s now infamous Anti-Homosexuality Bill (AHB), the number of African lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people on the move and seeking sanctuary has increased. Neighbouring Kenya hosts one of the five largest United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) mandated operations in the world concentrated most visibly between the Kakuma and Dadaab Refugee camps. Despite the fact that homosexuality remains criminalised within Kenya’s borders, those seeking refuge have increasingly included LGBTI people from the region. Although initially allowed to live in urban Nairobi in response to increasing fears regarding terrorism, the Kenyan state re-issued a strict directive in 2015 requiring all refugees in Kenya to move back to the camps – making it illegal for refugees to live outside of designated camp areas. To accommodate and protect LGBTI refugees, the majority of whom had been sent to Kakuma, the UNHCR facilitated the sectioning off of a protection area - essentially encamping them within the camp. It was here that they were requested to wait for resettlement. At the time of entering the camp LGBTI refugees and allies created a series of online fundraising campaigns by via the crowdfunding website GoFundMe. It is these campaigns, in their global circulation via the Internet and what they tell us about the spatial and temporal experience of resettlement as a ‘waiting event’ that this chapter explores. I suggest that LGBTI refugees’ prolific self-publication and use of GoFundMe specifically resists the spatial and temporal logics of the camp, a space designated for their waiting, by crafting a temporality that refuses the experience of waiting as suspension within the camp. This access to the virtual means that they are not solely confined to the physical space of the refugee camp but are, simultaneously, projecting themselves both into their future goal of resettlement and thereby transforming the experience of waiting in their present.

Making Surveillance States: Transnational Histories, 2019

In 1966 a police raid on ‘gay party’ in the heart of South African suburbia sent shockwaves throu... more In 1966 a police raid on ‘gay party’ in the heart of South African suburbia sent shockwaves through the nation. The moment set in motion a series events that would eventually lead the parliamentary amendment of the Immorality Act criminalising non heteronormative forms of sexuality and giving greater powers of surveillance to law enforcement. The gay community and gay organisations galvanised around the Immorality Act, starting what would become the beginnings of a ‘gay movement’ in South Africa. At the same time a less well know yet equally pernicious piece of legislation - the 1969 Prohibition of Disguises Act - an amalgamation of several such Acts in South Africa’s history was created and passed unimpeded. The Disguises Act’s reach – though it affected some homosexuals, i.e. those who dressed in drag – went far beyond curtailing sexual deviation and extended to implying a kind of gender normativity ostensibly expected by the State. The ghosts of which have, as this paper argues, continued to haunt the political landscape of gender non conforming South Africans well into the new millennium. The monitoring of bodies was a key focus of the Apartheid state. The policing of gendered and sexual behaviours, along with race, has often functioned as a central tool in an arsenal of prescriptive measures to ensure the exclusion of ‘deviance’. Gender has often surfaced in public debate, predominantly in relation to fears around ambiguity and the morally dangerous. Yet, gender and the production of gender subjectivities has received remarkably little attention. This paper addresses this lacuna in South Africa’s history, beginning with the earliest instances of what can be understood as the legislative curtailing of gender transgressive behaviour. This is achieved through a close reading of some of the known instances of the Acts implementation, tracking the evolving relationship between legislation and medical science in their attempts to control gender and the unruly body. It is the argument of this paper that this attempt at control did not simply police acceptable gender but defined gender normality and abnormality within the South African public sphere including what, at first glance, may seem quite strange - the materialisation of transsexuality during Apartheid as a state sanctioned medical and legal entity

Beyond the Mountain: Queer Life in Africa's 'Gay Capital', 2019

I am a trans person. I am also a feminist. In fact it was femi- nism that taught me biology is no... more I am a trans person. I am also a feminist. In fact it was femi- nism that taught me biology is not destiny. I remember reading Simone de Beauvoir and thinking, ‘Yes! One is not born a wom- an, one becomes one. Obviously!’ Something clicked into place.It is the point in the conversation where you might be asking what kind of trans person? Because you, the reader, can’t see me: can’t look for gendered cues, can’t double-take and check the sign over the door as I leave the restroom, can’t follow me around in the shopping centre, and as we wait to pay for groceries, can’t listen to your child count o on one hand the things that make me a man and on the other, the things that make me a woman; and, thankfully, you can’t point and ask, just loud enough so I can hear, ‘what is that?’

QUEER AND TRANS AFRICAN MOBILITIES Migration, Asylum and Diaspora, 2022

Vulnerability Amplified: Assessing the Needs Of LGBTI+ Refugees In South Africa, 2022

Since the implementation of the Refugees Act 130 of 1998, which recognises persecution based on s... more Since the implementation of the Refugees Act 130 of 1998, which recognises persecution based on sexual orientation and/or gender identity as grounds for asylum, there has been a steady number of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI+) people seeking protection in South Africa. Recent years have seen increasing attention afforded to these individuals, as reflected in the small but growing number of articles, books and reports written about them. However, this work is almost entirely qualitative. Such research is critical, but it only tells part of the story. The absence of reliable quantitative data makes it difficult to gauge the size of the LGBTI+ migrant and asylum-seeking community or the extent to which specific issues affect it. In particular, it makes it difficult – if not impossible – to hold the Department of Home Affairs, the police and other state entities to account. When reports emerge of LGBTI+ migrants and asylum seekers being mistreated, the government can dismiss these incidents as isolated or anomalous. Indeed, it is easy to downplay the need for more stringent oversight and accountability mechanisms when there is a lack of hard figures.

It was a desire to address this knowledge gap that inspired the Vulnerability Amplified project. Its aim was to collect baseline data that could augment existing research, as well as guide and support future advocacy interventions. This was achieved through three anonymous surveys administered via the WhatsApp messaging platform. As well as capturing basic demographic information, the surveys posed simple questions about participants’ gender, sexuality, documentation status, reason for migrating and experiences of harassment and/or violence. The surveys were circulated through established community networks, which allowed for data to be sourced from people who might otherwise be unable or unwilling to participate in research.

The final report analyses data from 381 respondents, primarily based in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Tshwane but also from other parts of the country. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that qualitative data on this population has been made available.

We hope the baseline data presented here will inform service delivery, facilitate movement-building, support needs analysis and assist with advocacy and fundraising efforts

Beyond The Mountain: Queer Life in “Africa’s Gay Capital” contributes to the body of knowledge on... more Beyond The Mountain: Queer Life in “Africa’s Gay Capital” contributes to the body of knowledge on the lived experiences of lesbian gay bisexual transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) communities in Cape Town. The book provides insight on the plight of the LGBTQI community, which has entrenched itself unashamedly in Cape Town and challenges the stereotypes and prejudices suffered by these communities. This book, which promotes the rights and protection of LGTBQI community, is a collection that historically, metaphorically and physically spans the city of Cape Town. The chapters consists of narratives of lived experiences and academic discussions presented by both novice and experienced scholars. The imagery of beyond the mountain is a depiction of the lives of LGBTQI community and immovable negative perceptions the general public have to them and seeks to expose their world and the kinds of violence and abuse they are subjected to as well as unveiling the racial discrimination within these communities. The book revolves around four themes, namely, education, emancipation, protection, acceptance and integration of LGBTQI people in society.

The report analyses 67 refugee status denials written on behalf of 65 applicants who applied for ... more The report analyses 67 refugee status denials written on behalf of 65 applicants who applied for asylum on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity (SOGI). Our goal in reviewing the sample was to identify trends and potential shortcomings in the adjudication of SOGI- based refugee applications. The report is intended to serve as a resource for researchers, lawyers, service providers and civil society organisations, as well as for LGBTI+ persons seeking protection in South Africa.

This book tracks the conceptual journeying of the term ‘transgender’ from the Global North—where ... more This book tracks the conceptual journeying of the term ‘transgender’ from the Global North—where it originated—along with the physical embodied journeying of transgender asylum seekers from countries within Africa to South Africa and considers the interrelationships between the two. The term 'transgender' transforms as it travels, taking on meaning in relation to bodies, national homes, institutional frameworks and imaginaries. This study centres on the experiences and narratives of people that can be usefully termed 'gender refugees', gathered through a series of life story interviews. It is the argument of this book that the departures, border crossings, arrivals and perceptions of South Africa for gender refugees have been both enabled and constrained by the contested meanings and politics of this emergence of transgender. This book explores, through these narratives, the radical constitutional-legal possibilities for 'transgender' in South Africa, the dissonances between the possibilities of constitutional law, and the pervasive politics/logic of binary ‘sex/gender’ within South African society. In doing so, this book enriches the emergent field of Transgender Studies and challenges some of the current dominant theoretical and political perceptions of 'transgender'. It offers complex narratives from the African continent regarding sex, gender, sexuality and notions of home concerning particular geo-politically situated bodies.