Citation

Moreau J. J. Lesbian Stud. 2016; 21(2): 204-218.

Affiliation

Women's and Gender Studies Program , Northern Arizona University , Flagstaff , Arizona , USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/10894160.2016.1146569

PMID

27593516

Abstract

Much has been written on the successful lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex movement in South Africa, and the resulting institutionalization of sexual minority rights. Comparatively less has been written about the forms of activism undertaken specifically by Black lesbians that are not oriented toward legal change. In this article, I assert the need to examine public demonstrations of mourning as an act of Black lesbian resistance to violence in South Africa. Based on in-depth interviews with members of Free Gender, a Black lesbian organization, I argue that members' conceptualizations of mourning as providing community support force a reconsideration of what it means to be human. In order to grasp the decolonial potential of Free Gender's activism, I draw on Sylvia Wynter's argument that a singular Western bourgeois conception of human has come to dominate globally.

Language: en