Queer(y)ing Freedom: Black Queer Visibilities in Postapartheid South Africa

Queer(y)ing Freedom: Black Queer Visibilities in Postapartheid South Africa

Xavier Livermon (Africana Studies, Wayne State University)
Tuesday, March 12 / 4:00 PM
4631A South Hall

In this talk, Xavier Livermon argues that liberation is as much a sociocultural construct as it is a political or economic one. Extending the South African queer scholar Mikki van Zyl’s analysis of the distinction between citizenship and belonging, Livermon examines the concept of freedom in postapartheid South Africa through the lens of black queer bodies. Through an analysis of “Cheaters”, a popular radio program broadcast in Soweto; the late kwaito star Lebo Mathosa; and ethnographic observation in the form of “quotidian conversations,” he illuminates the contested terrain of queer sexuality in contemporary South Africa, particularly its intersection with class and race. Exploring how black queer bodies test the limits of freedom and liberation, Livermon exposes both the possibilities and the contradictions of the postapartheid state.

Sponsored by the Center for Black Studies Research, Black Quare, the Hull Chair in Feminist Studies, the IHC’s African Studies RFG and the IHC’s New Sexualities RFG.