Through the Postcolonial Eyes: Images of Gender and Female Sexuality in Contemporary South Africa

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]

No full text available

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:

DateEvent
2009Published

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

Edit Record Edit Record (login required)