Queer political subjectivities in Senegal: gaining a voice within new religious landscapes of belonging

Abstract

This paper examines how homosexuality has become a subject of political contestation in Senegal, beginning in the late 2000s and continuing to the present. Repression of same-sex sexuality reached a peak in February 2008 after a Senegalese tabloid, Icône, published 20 photos of an allegedly gay marriage, and 5 men were subsequently put into custody. Based on fieldwork research and several interviews conducted in the cities of Dakar, Thies and Mbour, this paper explores the rise of new types of political demands and discourses related to homosexuality in Senegal. First, this paper analyses the condemnation of homosexuality by some Senegalese religious groups, such as the religious association Djamra/Jamra. This condemnation of same-sex intimacy is motivated by an attempt to regenerate religious and cultural values. Second, it focuses on the political claims and participatory politics of gay and lesbian Senegalese citizens in this hostile environment. This paper outlines how current discourses on homosexuality are embedded in Senegal in a set of fractured representations of togetherness and belonging. Finally, drawing on theories of ‘political subjectivities’, this paper highlights some of the ways queer identities manage to gain a voice in a country where same-sex practices are legally prohibited.

Cet article examine comment l’homosexualité est devenue un sujet de contestation politique au Sénégal à partir du début des années 2000. La répression de la sexualité entre personnes de même sexe a atteint un pic en février 2008, après qu’un tabloïd sénégalais, Îcone, publia 20 photos d’un présumé mariage homosexuel et que 5 hommes furent par la suite placés en détention. En s’appuyant sur une recherche de terrain et plusieurs entretiens menés dans les villes de Dakar, Thiès et Mbour, cet article explore la montée de nouveaux types de revendications et de discours politiques relatifs à l’homosexualité au Sénégal. Premièrement, cet article analyse la condamnation de l’homosexualité par certains groupes religieux sénégalais, tels que l’association religieuse Djamra/Jamra. Cette condamnation de l’intimité entre personnes de même sexe est motivée par une tentative de régénérer les valeurs religieuses et culturelles. Deuxièmement, l’article se concentre sur les revendications politiques et les luttes participatives des citoyens gays et lesbiennes sénégalais dans cet environnement hostile. Cet article souligne comment, au Sénégal, les discours actuels sur l’homosexualité sont incorporés dans un ensemble de représentations fracturées de la collectivité et de l’appartenance. Enfin, cet article s’appuie sur des théories de ‘subjectivité politique’ pour souligner certaines des façons à travers lesquelles les identités queer parviennent à faire entendre leur voix dans un pays où les pratiques sexuelles entre personnes de même sexe sont légalement interdites.

Keywords:

• same-sex sexualities
• political subjectivities
• belonging
• Senegal

Mots-clefs:

• sexualités entre personnes même sexe
• subjectivités politiques
• appartenance
• Sénégal

Acknowledgements

The author is really thankful to the Bayreuth Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS) for supporting her fieldwork research in Senegal. She also wishes to express her gratitude to the two anonymous reviewers of Critical African Studies as well as Katharina Schramm and Kristine Krause for their valuable and useful comments. Finally, the author would like to thank Giorgio Brocco and her family for their support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 “[…] whoever will have committed an improper or unnatural act with a person of the same sex will be punished by imprisonment of between 1 and 5 years and by a fine of 100,000 to 1,500,000 francs. If the act was committed with a person below the age of 21, the maximum penalty will always be applied.” (Ndoye:140).

2 2008 began a wave of public prosecutions against queer people in Senegal. In January 2009, nine members of a Senegalese association against AIDS were taking into custody after meeting up at the house of the head of the association in Dakar. In 2012, Senegalese police officers apprehended five women, in Grand-Yoff (a suburb of Dakar), identified as the main protagonists of an alleged sex tape, which has been circulated in various media outlets. More recently in December 2015 11 men, accused of organizing a gay wedding, were arrested in a public high school in Kaolack, a Senegalese town near to Gambia. Members of AIDES NGO protested against this detention and argued that the men arrested were actually celebrated a birthday.

3 The findings presented here first, rely on an analysis on the religious newspaper Djamra. Two semi-structured interviews were realized with the head of the NGO Djamra/Jamra. Second, the research is based on 11 semi-structured interviewed, two group discussions and participant observation conducted in Dakar, Thies and Mbour with leaders and members of several MSM associations.

4 Interview with Bamar Gueye, director of the NGO Djamra/Jamra, Dakar, December 2011.

5 People identified as lesbian are called ‘gwinn’ in wolof, adapted from the French derogative term ‘gouine’ that is the equivalent of ‘dike’ or ‘lez’ in English. However, the coverage of female same-sex sexuality is relatively new in Senegal and most of the time initiated by media, which employ the French term ‘lesbienne’ (‘lesbian’ in English) to designate them.

6 Concerning the ways politics of belonging can work as boundary maintenance, mainly through emotions and affects, see Ahmed (2004).

7 In English Prostitution, Debauchery and Homosexuality in Senegal.

8 Concerning this, it is worth noticing that Latif Gueye, who was appointed ambassador by the formal Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and became the head of another NGO “Africa helps Africa” (AAA), has been condemned in 2003 for anti-retroviral drug trafficking.

9 Boellstorff (2011), who retraces the genealogy of the term 'MSM', shows that 'MSM' firstly constitutes an analytical term concerning HIV/AIDS. It serves to ‘signify behaviour without identity’, describing ‘men who have sex with men but do not identify as gay’. (Boellstorff 2011, 291)