Citizenship of Love

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

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4525535
AutoresAdriaan Van Klinken (0000-0003-2011-5537, University of Leeds, autor correspondente)
Ano2018
Volume22
Fascículo6
Páginas650-665
Data de publicação2018-08-18
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoCitizenship Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1362-1025 • E-ISSN: 1469-3593
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/13621025.2018.1494901
OpenAlexW2809030481
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências 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