Graeme Reid

Sex and secrecy: A focus on African sexualities

Sexual behaviour and attitudes towards sexuality often reveal wider social anxieties and tensions. In the Southern African region, an area experiencing rapid social transformation, such tensions ar...

`I¿ve got two men and one woman¿: ancestors, sexuality and identity among same-sex identified women traditional healers in South Africa

This paper presents preliminary insights into the complex nature of the same‐sex orientation of seven women who are sangomas (traditional healers) in Soweto. Data was derived from an ethnographic study, used as the appropriate methodology because of the veiled and secret nature of same‐sexuality amongst traditional healers. In‐depth semi‐structured interviews were taped in audio or video format, transcribed and translated into English. A close reading of the transcripts in relation to notions of gender, agency, kinship, community and power revealed that the belief system of the sangomas provides a window into different categories of sexuality in an African framework through which the interaction and intersection of their personal same‐sex desire, and that of their male ancestors, can be viewed. Sangomas construction of identity and desire shifted between that of personal agency and that of a dominant male ancestor. This required constant negotiation and encompassed elements of both the ‘modern’ and ‘traditional’. In the case of these sangomas, same‐sexuality the basis of marginality assumes a social status and becomes a source of power.

Secrecy, stigma and HIV/AIDS: An introduction

This paper situates the articles selected for this special issue of AJAR within the context of the Sex and Secrecy conference, from which they emerged and within the discourse of secrecy. Secrecy and silence which have characterised the HIV/AIDS epidemic in many societies, have been the focus of limited academic attention. Yet the power of the secret is evident in multiple spheres. This introduction uses the lens of secrecy to enhance our understanding of sexuality. One of the themes which ran throughout these papers was that of stigma and its links to secrecy and HIV/AIDS. The papers reviewed in this introduction highlight an alarming paradox. There is a high level of HIV awareness and unparalleled public attention around matters of sexuality and yet the authors in this special issue all point to the enormity of stigma and its consequences.