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abstract
This article analyses the political significance of the diversity of digital practices that sexual minorities exploit for visibility in and from Cameroon. It is based on a field survey conducted in Yaoundé and Douala between 2017 and 2018, as well as on a digital ethnographic survey conducted on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok between 2021 and 2022. In a context hostile to same-sex sexual practices, more and more voices are being publicly raised on social media to affirm their homosexuality, queerness, and/or trans identities. The costs of this visibility are, however, considerable and function as serious warning. Are these modes of visibility enabled by new media technologies able to influence perceptions, attitudes and policies towards sexual and gendered minorities in Cameroon? Queer visibilities online are not only an alternative public space, but a political and spatial category that makes the space of and for queer Cameroonians transnational, and questions the digital territory of contested citizenship.
Acknowledgements
This research was carried out with the support of Sidaction Paris, Financement des Jeunes ChercheursEs 2016. A special thanks to Danai Mupotsa who kindly reviewed the earlier version of this manuscript and provided clear, rich and valuable suggestions and comments.
Notes
1 This research was done in French, which is why hashtags are kept in French. #comprendrequipourra means ‘understand who can’.
2 Shakiro and Patricia were released from prison after six months, following a strong international mobilisation, including online with the hashtags #FreeShakiro #FreePatricia.
4 These commonplace expressions include statements such as “Not the lolettes mama!”, or “You don't give credit in the chilli pepper Mamaaa!”, chilli being a derogatory reference to sex work/workers.
5 In a context where questions of sexuality and morality are increasingly mediatised and controversial, I wanted to see to what extent online sexual encounters inform the sexual practices of users in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Funded by Sidaction and initially oriented towards men who have sex with men (MSM), it was the difficulty in obtaining ethical advice and an Administrative Research Authorisation due to the target audience (MSM) that forced us to extend our study to sexually active internet users over 18 years of age (age of criminal responsibility) and living in Cameroon, and 1720 people participated in the survey, including 550 people online. Among participats, 57% identified as men, 37% as women and 5% as trans or non-binary. Of interest is that 32% of the overall sample declared at least one consensual same-sex relationship within the last 12 months. During the survey I interviewed 29 persons recruited through dating sites or social media. The results of this study have opened interesting perspectives on queer digital cultures, their challenges and opportunities. During the scientific monitoring on social media I followed online activities of about 30 accounts and interviewed nine queer bloggers each with a minimum of 5000 followers.
6 In this show, which has only had one episode so far, Loïc introduces the character of Shakiro and laments the fact that he has been subjected to so much hatred as a human being.
7 Precisely with the deep economic crisis that the country went through in the 1990s, which led to the devaluation of the CFA franc, the downsizing of the civil service and the division of civil servants’ salaries by up to six.
8 First names used are fictitious to protect the anonymity of respondents. Face-to-face interviews were conducted between October 2017 and April 2018, and by telephone or Visio between September and October 2022.
9 This is an opportunity to point out that in March 2022 the state condemned, for the first time, a man who had violently assaulted a trans woman in the city of Yaoundé. The other perpetrators of the attack were not prosecuted. See https://www.hrw.org/fr/news/2022/03/03/un-tribunal-au-cameroun-punit-lun-des-auteurs-de-violences-anti-lgbti.
10 Understood here as a strategic positioning intended to capture external financial resources for internal political promotion. Extroversion is not just a matter of being subjected to it, it is part of the historical nature of African societies (Bayart Citation1999).
11 Livestreams are video formats that allow a user to interact in real time with other users. These formats can be open to the public or restricted to certain members.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Larissa Kojoué
LARISSA KOJOUÉ is a Cameroonian feminist scholar and Social Justice activist. She graduated from the University of Yaoundé 2-Soa, Cameroon in 2006, and holds a PhD in Political Science gained from the Institute of Political Studies of Bordeaux, France in 2013. Researcher, lecturer, feminist and social justice activist, Larissa is passionate about Black resistance movements and African literature. Her experience includes transdisciplinary, academic and community-based research, teachings on political sociology, political communication, African feminist thoughts (etc.), and activist work with women and sexual minorities in West and Central Africa. Her current research project is ‘Queering the Internet: political perspectives from contemporary West and Central Africa’. Email: [email protected]