Title Amphibious subjects : sasso and the contested politics of queer self-making in neoliberal Ghana / Kwame Edwin Otu

Published Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2022] ©2022

Click on the following:
JSTOR Open Access

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xii, 200 pages) : illustrations (some color) Series New sexual worlds ; 2 New sexual worlds ; 2. Contents Introducing amphibious subjects -- Situating sasso : mapping effeminate subjectivities and homoerotic desire in postcolonial Ghana -- Contesting homogeneity : sasso complexity in the face of neoliberal LGBT+ politics -- Amphibious subjectivity : queer self-making at the intersection of colliding and colluding modernities in neoliberal Ghana -- The paradox of rituals : queer possibilities in heteronormative scenes -- Palimpsestic projects : hetero-colonial missions in post-independent Ghana (1965-1975) -- Queer liberal expeditions : the BBC's "The world's worst place to be gay?" and the paradoxes of homocolonialism -- Conclusion : queering queer Africa? Summary "Amphibious Subjects is an ethnographic study of a community of self-identified effeminate men-known in local parlance as sasso-residing in coastal Jamestown, a suburb of Accra, Ghana's capital. Drawing on the Ghanaian philosopher Kwame Gyekye's notion of "amphibious personhood," Kwame Edwin Otu argues that sasso embody and articulate amphibious subjectivity in their self-making, creating an identity that moves beyond the homogenizing impulses of western categories of gender and sexuality. Such subjectivity simultaneously unsettles claims purported by the Christian heteronationalist state and LGBT+ human rights organizations that Ghana is predominantly heterosexual or homophobic. Weaving together personal interactions with sasso, participant observation, autoethnography, archival sources, essays from African and African-diasporic literature, and critical analyses of documentaries such as the BBC's The World's Worst Place to Be Gay, Amphibious Subjects is an ethnographic meditation on how Africa is configured as the "heart of homophobic darkness" in transnational LGBT+ human rights imaginaries"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 183-194) and index Notes Print version record Subject Sexual minority community -- Ghana -- Accra Effeminacy -- Ghana -- Accra Human rights -- Anthropological aspects -- Ghana -- Accra Sexual minorities -- Ghana -- Accra Gender identity -- Ghana -- Accra Homosexuality -- Ghana -- Accra SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural & Social. SOCIAL SCIENCE / LGBTQ Studies / Bisexual Studies. SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural Effeminacy Gender identity Homosexuality Human rights -- Anthropological aspects Sexual minorities Sexual minority community Ghana -- Accra Genre/Form Electronic books Form Electronic book LC no. 2022000341 ISBN 0520381866 9780520381865

  Permalink