Scientific knowledge and sexual advocacy

African publics, choiceless citizens and potential confounders

Bibliographic Data

ID2103754
AuthorsRenugan Raidoo (0000-0002-8035-3281, Harvard University Press, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume92
Issue3
Pages295-314
Publication date2022-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAfrica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0001-9720 • E-ISSN: 1750-0184
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0001972022000298
OpenAlexW4283451454
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited37

This article is concerned with science and sexuality, and the possibilities and pitfalls of using the former to change minds about the latter, taking as its main source of data a report released by the Academy of Science of South Africa in 2015,Diversity in Human Sexuality: implications for policy in Africa. I frame the report in terms of co-production - borrowed from science and technology studies - and a theory of publics - taken from literary criticism and queer theory. I first describe how science has played a role in recent queer politics before showing how the report intervenes by appealing to a particularly African public. Thereafter, I describe how the choosing agentive subject disappears in the report's depiction of the legitimate sexual citizen. Such a framing of citizenship raises several possible problems, some of which I address in the final section. These are described as potential confounders inhibiting the success of the report, preventing effective co-production or the summoning of a public. The article's goal is not to discredit the report; rather, in pointing out how the report might fall short of its goal, it is directed towards a more reflexive activism

Citizenship · Criticism · Framing (construction · Human sexuality · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Publics · Queer · Reflexivity · Social science · Sociology · Subject (documents · Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy