Citizenship of Love

The Politics, Ethics and Aesthetics of Sexual Citizenship in a Kenyan Gay Music Video

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4525535
AutoresAdriaan Van Klinken (0000-0003-2011-5537, University of Leeds, autor de correspondencia)
Año2018
Volumen22
Número6
Páginas650-665
Fecha de publicación2018-08-18
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaCitizenship Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1362-1025 • E-ISSN: 1469-3593
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13621025.2018.1494901
OpenAlexW2809030481
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas25

Against the background of the current politicisation of homosexuality and the policing of sexual citizenship in Kenya and other African countries, this article offers an analysis of the Kenyan gay music video Same Love, released by the band Art Attack in 2016. Employing the concept of acts of citizenship, the article foregrounds the political, ethical and aesthetical aspects through which the lyrics and images of Same Love perform an act of sexual citizenship mediated through art. It argues that as an artistic intervention, the video interrogates popular narratives of homosexuality as un-Kenyan, un-African and un-Christian and creates a sense of a citizenship that is yet to come: a pan-African, Christian and queer citizenship of love. Thus, the article explores the new possibilities of cultural, sexual and religious citizenship created through popular culture and public space in contemporary Africa

Aesthetics · Art · Citizenship · Homosexuality · Kenya · Literature · Lyrics · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Queer · Sociology · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy