“The Devil Slapped on the Genitals”
Religion and Spirituality in Queer South Africans’ Lives
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20156508 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cheryl Stobie (0000-0002-7138-7340, University of KwaZulu-Natal, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Publication date | 2014-01-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Literary Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0256-4718 • E-ISSN: 1753-5387 |
| Publisher | Unisa Press (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.1080/02564718.2014.887620 |
| OpenAlex | W2029798013 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 10 |
Uniquely among African countries, South Africa's Bill of Rights offers civil protection to individuals on the basis of vectors of identity including sexuality, gender and religion. Public opinion, however, lags behind the ideals of the Constitution. Against this historical background, a range of books has recently appeared, giving expression to the interface between sexuality, culture and religion from the viewpoint of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. These texts include autobiographical accounts in three books: Reclaiming the L-Word: Sappho's Daughters out in Africa (Diesel 2011a); Yes I Am!: Writing by South African Gay Men (Malan & Johaardien 2010); and Trans: Transgender Life Stories from South Africa (Morgan, Marais & Wellbeloved 2009). In this article I analyse the effects of autobiographical representations of spirituality and sexuality within different cultural contexts as represented in these books. I show the ways in which religions, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and African traditional belief systems, can constrain the individual rights of sexually nonconforming believers, and I also reveal ways in which believers establish meaningful spiritual and intimate lives despite these tensions. Queer spiritual autobiographies validate the lives of LGBT people, and they also foster the renegotiation of public culture to permit social justice for all, regardless of sexuality or gender expression
Christianity · Constitution · Homosexuality · Human sexuality · Islam · Lesbian · Political science · Queer · Sociology · Spirituality · Transgender · African Sexualities and LGBTQ+ Issues · Gender Studies · History · Law · LGBTQ Health, Identity, and Policy · Philosophy · Religious studies · South African History and Culture
Gay Men’s Identity Negotiation Strategies within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa in Grahamstown, South Africa
Condemned Bodies
This is Improper and Irreligious
Forced (Queer) migration and everyday violence
Faith and fluidity
The Body in African Evangelicalism
Queer studies and religion in Southern Africa
African Studies Keywords
| Unique citing works | 8 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,89 |
| Citation span | 2017 - 2025 (9) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |