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Heterosexual Africa? contributes to Epprecht’s arguments made in his earlier work that a singular, heterosexual identity has been constructed for Africa by scholars and colonial officials which in turn is parroted by African elites. The newest voices to this supposed fallacy are healthcare workers who flocked to Africa following the HIV/AIDs pandemic. Epprecht aims to trace how the “invisible presence of homosexuality” was concocted, conjured, confirmed, and contested over time through various professions (5). Heterosexual Africa? is the history of an idea. The idea is that there is no homosexuality in Africa, which reads and extends like a minor footnote in European intellectual history.
Marc Epprecht criticizes and uses queer theory in his work. He gives the background of the creation of queer theory and the word queer. The constant critique of queer theory throughout the work comes because Epprecht does not believe it is helpful anymore (14). He gives three reasons for this belief; African scholars and Africanists who do gender and sexuality are reluctant to embrace the term ‘queer,’ the efforts to globalize queer theory remain heavily dependent on Western empirical evidence, and in methodological terms queer theory can be very old fashioned (14-15).
While Epprecht makes broad sweeping claims on the whole of Africa, much of his sources come from the Sesotho culture in Lesotho (7). To combat criticism, he says he “casts the search [for source material] as widely as possibly over the whole of Africa south of the Sahara, although, for historical reasons that will be discussed, the pertinent scholarship is far denser in southern Africa” (26). He does not want to impose southern African experiences or models on the whole of Africa but suggests avenues for productive future research in different subregions (27).
He uses terminology that is local and historical when referring to local and historical instances of same-sex sexuality. He also uses terminology that is preferred by African lgbti associations in their activism, which includes using lowercase letters rather than LGBTQIA as is used in the global north. Epprecht also uses the two concepts, cultural intimacy and self-stereotypes, created by anthropologist Michael Herzfeld which were helpful for his study (25).
The book aims to support those African intellectuals. ). Epprecht claims his “goal here is not to position histories of individual lgbti, msm (men having sex with other men), wsw (women having sex with other women), or specific subcultures of nonnormative sexualities in the centre of the picture. Rather it is to focus on how and why they were left out of the picture in the first place, and so often continue to be. It aims at strengthening the argument in favour of a truly holistic and cross-sectorial approach to HIV and AIDS and other sexual health and human rights discussions” (29). In this effort Epprecht does just that with his work Heterosexual Africa?.
Marc Epprecht criticizes and uses queer theory in his work. He gives the background of the creation of queer theory and the word queer. The constant critique of queer theory throughout the work comes because Epprecht does not believe it is helpful anymore (14). He gives three reasons for this belief; African scholars and Africanists who do gender and sexuality are reluctant to embrace the term ‘queer,’ the efforts to globalize queer theory remain heavily dependent on Western empirical evidence, and in methodological terms queer theory can be very old fashioned (14-15).
While Epprecht makes broad sweeping claims on the whole of Africa, much of his sources come from the Sesotho culture in Lesotho (7). To combat criticism, he says he “casts the search [for source material] as widely as possibly over the whole of Africa south of the Sahara, although, for historical reasons that will be discussed, the pertinent scholarship is far denser in southern Africa” (26). He does not want to impose southern African experiences or models on the whole of Africa but suggests avenues for productive future research in different subregions (27).
He uses terminology that is local and historical when referring to local and historical instances of same-sex sexuality. He also uses terminology that is preferred by African lgbti associations in their activism, which includes using lowercase letters rather than LGBTQIA as is used in the global north. Epprecht also uses the two concepts, cultural intimacy and self-stereotypes, created by anthropologist Michael Herzfeld which were helpful for his study (25).
The book aims to support those African intellectuals. ). Epprecht claims his “goal here is not to position histories of individual lgbti, msm (men having sex with other men), wsw (women having sex with other women), or specific subcultures of nonnormative sexualities in the centre of the picture. Rather it is to focus on how and why they were left out of the picture in the first place, and so often continue to be. It aims at strengthening the argument in favour of a truly holistic and cross-sectorial approach to HIV and AIDS and other sexual health and human rights discussions” (29). In this effort Epprecht does just that with his work Heterosexual Africa?.