Lives in Motion

Theorising Mobility in Contemporary Queer African Cinema

Dados Bibliográficos

ID21242452
AutoresWesley Paul Macheso (0000-0002-4841-8399, University of Malawi, autor correspondente)
Ano2022
Volume8
Fascículo3
Páginas139-155
Data de publicação2022-07-03
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoEastern African Literary and Cultural Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 2327-7408 • E-ISSN: 2327-7416
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23277408.2021.1894056
OpenAlexW3164144167
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas22

This paper discusses two fictional films — Inxeba (The Wound) (2017 Trengove, J., dir. 2017. Inxeba (The Wound). Hamburg: Riva Filmproduktion. [Google Scholar]) and Rafiki (2018 Kahiu, W., dir. 2018. Rafiki. Cape Town: Big World Cinema. [Google Scholar]) — as forms of queer representation within the nascent field of queer African cinema. My analysis situates the films within discourses of globalisation with a specific interest on how theories of mobility in the contemporary global imaginary manifest themselves in African queer cinema. I argue that the two productions demonstrate possibilities of queer mobility in efforts to create space for the queer in African heteronormative societies. Through the metaphorical implications of various forms of mobility represented in the two films, the producers manifest means of attaining queer agency by interrogating notions of static and monolithic traditional African cultures, which have been multiply disrupted by modernity and cultural exchanges. These two films carry positive queer themes through either celebrating queerness or exposing the vulnerability of African queer lives in order to solicit empathy and highlight the impact of marginalisation, while exploring prospects for queer futurity

Aesthetics · Art · Modernity · Movie theater · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Queer · Queer theory · Social science · Sociology · The Imaginary · Visual arts · African history and culture studies · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Psychology