Queer Worldmaking in Wanuri Kahiu’s Film Rafiki

Abstract

This article argues that Wanuri Kahiu’s film Rafiki is an exemplar of worldmaking in queer African cinema. By analysing key scenes from the film, I uncover the ways in which Rafiki offers queer Kenyans a visual affirmation of a queer world which exists counter to the world of hegemonic heteronormativity in Kenya. Key contributors to Rafiki’s worldmaking potential, I argue, are the director’s use of tropes of futurity, horizon, and queer utopic space in the film’s plot and narrative. Extending the idea of queer utopic space to the viewing experience of audiences, I show how the practice of queer worldmaking extended beyond the screen to the space inside the cinema in the seven days that the film’s ban was relaxed and Rafiki was screened in Kenya.

KEYWORDS:

• Rafiki
• queer
• utopic space
• worldmaking
• futurity
• Kenya

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Lyn Johnstone is a researcher in African politics and international relations at Royal Holloway University of London. Her research interests include the investigation of post-colonial relationships between African states and Britain and the ways in which state and non-state actors influence and regulate sexualities in Africa. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, and she is the editor of The Politics of Conducting Research in Africa: Ethical and Emotional Challenges in the Field.