Gunkel, Henriette. 2009. Through the Postcolonial Eyes: Images of Gender and Female Sexuality in Contemporary South Africa. Journal of Lesbian Studies, 13(1), pp. 77-87. ISSN 1089-4160 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This article explores cultural representations of the lesbian in post-apartheid South Africa by focusing on images by the Black lesbian activist and photographer Zanele Muholi. In her work Muholi challenges visual regimes of sexuality and the body by pointing to practices and commodities that transgress normative perceptions of (hetero)sexuality. At the same time her images visualize the negotiations of local representations of female same-sex intimacies and sexual identities with global lesbian cultures and identities. By doing so they are targeting the assumption—and its effects—that homosexuality cannot act as a signifier for a decolonized subject.

Item Type:	Article
Identification Number (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1080/07380560802314219
Additional Information:	Reprinted in: “Through the post-colonial eyes: images of female same-sex intimacy in contemporary South Africa.” In: Cooper, Sara E. (ed.) Lesbian Images in International Popular Culture. London and New York: Routledge, 2009
Departments, Centres and Research Units:	Visual Cultures
Dates:	Date Event 2009 Published
Item ID:	15913
Date Deposited:	20 Dec 2015 17:56
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2017 13:42
URI:	https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/15913

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