Thabo Msibi

‘I'm used to it now’: experiences of homophobia among queer youth in South African township schools

This paper explores how sexually marginalised black high-school students from conservative schooling contexts in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, experience schooling. It draws on queer theories through life narratives in presenting findings from a small-scale interventionist project designed by the author. The project involved 14 participants comprising teachers, school learners and pre-service teachers. The study found that queer youth have negative experiences of schooling which range from punitive actions expressed through derogatory language to vicious reactionary hate, often expressed through violence and often perpetrated by teachers. This paper also found resist-stances from queer learners in portraying a positive self-image for themselves as a mechanism for coping with homophobia. As a way of looking forward, it locates teachers at the centre of bringing about change for the queer learners and argues for a re-education of teachers in order to tackle homophobia in schools.

Teaching about Heterosexism: Challenging Homophobia in South Africa.

This article, a critical review of a module on heterosexism and homophobia, sets out the challenges to be overcome if the oppressive conditions for lesbian, gay, and bisexual students and teachers in South Africa are to be changed. It draws on evidence from student assignments, records of participatory discussions and the notes of the authors, who taught the module. The authors argue that the participatory methods used in this course are essential if teachers are to become agents of change. However, these methods need to be linked to a clear and coherent theoretical foundation that enables students to draw links between different forms of oppression.

The knot of curriculum and teacher professionalism in post-apartheid South Africa

This paper is a response to the recent curriculum revisions in South Africa, namely the introduction of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS). We argue, using the deliberationist perspective to curriculum development, that the attention on curriculum policy is misdirected and fails to sufficiently address one of the key problems facing schooling in South Africa today: that of the lack of teacher professionalism. We review both scholarly and popular literature to demonstrate the challenges of the education system as largely rooted in the historical apartheid construction of teachers, which positioned white teachers as professional while casting African teachers as mere technicians. We hold that current revisions to the curriculum seem to suggest that government has given up on the professional agenda of the post 1994 dispensation and seem to be making the curriculum ‘teacher proof’, thus making teachers more powerless and unimportant. We suggest that the focus should not solely be on the cu...

Denied love: Same-sex desire, agency and social oppression among African men who engage in same-sex relations

abstract Globally, love is socially constructed as a heterosexual experience (that assumes a heteronormative gender regime). Those who engage in same-sex relations are often denied the right to experience being loved by, and loving, their same-sex partners. In many parts of Africa, this denial is even etched in the national laws, with countries such as Uganda and Nigeria currently seeking to replace the already stringent colonial penal codes with even harsher post-colonial laws geared to erase same-sex desire, and same-sex desiring individuals. In South Africa, while the laws may be affirming of love between people of the same sex, the lived experiences of many same-sex loving individuals are generally negative. These experiences are deliberately and systematically maintained through heteronormativity to deny same-sex love by constructing it as an aberration, an attempt to force those who engage in these relations to internalise and accept this construction. Using the concepts of internalised homophobia and agency, I explore constructions of love by eight African male teachers who engage in same-sex relations. I draw from a life history study which sought to investigate how South African male teachers from rural and township contexts, who engage in same-sex relations, construct their sexual and professional identities. From the data, I show the internal conflicts, as a result of culture and religion, that these men have. I argue that the men both accommodate social norms while simultaneously challenging them. I therefore present same-sex love as complicated, involving the conforming to, and challenging of, social norms.

They are worried about me: I am also worried

abstract Marriage is an important marker of heteronormativity. It is an important tool that holds patriarchy in place and is a key vehicle for policing “normality” among sexualities. In this briefing I reflect on the increasing concern regarding my single status as expressed by parents, colleagues and friends. Implicit in the concerns is the suspicion that I may actually be gay. Marriage in this instance has come to be equated with a confirmation of heterosexuality. I argue that marriage is a marker of heterosexual conformity. As such it has provided a smokescreen and protection for gay, lesbian and bisexual individuals who find themselves having to lead double lives in order to conform to social expectations. I call for an interrogation of the marriage institution in order to challenge both heterosexism and sexism in South Africa. religion and education as possible tools to challenge patriarchy.

Intersections of two isiZulu genderlects and the construction of 'skesana' identities

Drawing on Youdell’s (2000, 2005, 2006) work on identity formation, we examine in this article multiple performances of gender identities in relation to a particular language use among African men who engage in same-sex relations. Based on semi-ethnographic research and in-depth interviews with African men who are isiNgqumo speakers in the Durban metropolitan area in KwaZulu-Natal, this article portrays the intersectional nature of two genderlects. The isiNgqumo lexicon is characterised largely by what Zulu speakers refer to as “deep” lexicon, and a closer examination reveals that a substantial number of lexical items are drawn from the isiHlonipho variety of Zulu, also termed “isiHlonipho Sabafazi” (‘women’s language of respect’). Hlonipha (lit. ‘respect’) social actions and language use are representative of showing submissiveness towards males and other people who are considered superiors. On the basis of the experiences of men who engage in same-sex relations and who self-identify as skesana , we argue that an isiNgqumo variety that draws from the isiHlonipho lexicon represents a linguistic variety that is linked to a heteronormative and patriarchal cultural system which renders femininity an inferior subject position. Within this gendered order, certain linguistic expressions of isiNgqumo can create tension-riddled identity categories and allow for complex positioning for skesanas , many of whom draw on heteronormative and heteropoleric categories in the construction of their sexual and gender identities.

Vocabularies of the non-normative

“The problem with English is this: You usually can’t open your mouth and it comes out just like that – first you have to think what you want to say. Then you have to find the words. Then you have to carefully arrange those words in your head. Then you have to say the words quietly to yourself, to make sure you got them okay. And finally, the last step, which is to say the words out loud and have them sound just right. But then because you have to do all this, when you get to the final step, something strange has happened to you and you speak the way a drunk walks. And, because you are speaking like falling, it’s as if you are an idiot, when the truth is that it’s the language and the whole process that’s messed up. And then the problem with those who speak only English is this: they don’t know how to listen; they are busy looking at your falling instead of paying attention to what you are saying.”

“It's not that bad”: Homophobia in the residences of a university in KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

abstract Higher education residences are ‘homes away from home’ where students from different social and cultural backgrounds live together, holding different norms, values and practices. The various diversities often present in higher education institutions and the distance from their home communities mean many gay, lesbian and bisexual (LGB) students often find space and freedom to ‘claim’ and negotiate their same-sex identities at these institutions. We showcase the experiences of LGB students living in a teacher-training residential space of one South African university located in KwaZulu-Natal. Using heteronormativity as a theoretical framework and a case study methodology we demonstrate how LGB students experience homophobia, and the institutional responses when such incidents occur. Interviews were conducted with 10 LGB-identifying participants studying to be teachers at the university. Findings reveal an ingrained culture of sustained tolerance for homophobia among the general students in the residences, driven largely by the systemic conditions present in higher education residential spaces. These conditions normalise homophobia, thereby positioning same-sex attraction as abhorrent and unacceptable, especially for students aspiring to be teachers. The analysis also shows that the interviewed students internalise homophobia, evidenced by their strategies of defending homophobic practices. While the data demonstrate clear evidence of homophobia in higher education residential spaces, we also show that some LGB students exhibit agentic actions of resistance, but these are often constrained by the deeply conservative space they find themselves in. We conclude by calling for more proactive interventions from university administrators in order to address homophobia. We also call for more research work with a focus on residences.

Restricted freedom: negotiating same-sex identifications in the residential spaces of a South African university

International higher education research focused on students who claim same-sex identifications in university residential spaces has tended to prioritise the ‘gay as victim’ discourse, often leading to the pathologising of same-sex identification. While there is emerging research seeking to challenge this dimension of scholarship by offering a more nuanced and ‘queer’ approach to doing research, such research has tended to be thin, often exclusively focusing on Western contexts. This paper responds to this limitation by showcasing the experiences of Black South African same-sex-identifying students residing in student accommodation spaces in one South African university. Ten participants (five men and five women) were selected to participate in the study through snowball sampling. Each participant was interviewed twice using grounded conversations – an interview technique designed to address unequal power relations during the interviewing process. Findings highlight that the experiences of same-sex-identifying students at the university where this study took place are complex, involving the accommodation of homophobia and heteronormativity as well as resist-stancing. This is mainly due to the fact that the university residential space was heterosexualised. The paper, therefore, argues for a ‘queering’ of higher education scholarship given the deeply heterosexualised and misogynistic cultures that exist in such spaces.

Queering Curriculum Studies in South Africa

This chapter reflects on the shortcomings of curriculum theorising in South Africa by drawing on my experiences as an academic who has deliberately sought to reconceptualise and re-imagine the field of Curriculum Studies through transgressive (hooks, 1994), queerly teaching. In particular, I reflect on my experiences of teaching a Master of Education Module Theorising Curriculum, a module that deliberately and transgressively introduces issues of gender, race, sexuality and queerness into the curriculum theory class.