Zimbabwean Popular Cultural Expressions of Alternative Sexual Identities

Abstract

ABSTRACT The dominant narrative within Zimbabwean popular cultural scholarship largely focuses on the Zimbabwean socio-economic and political crisis at the expense of alternative ideologies, identities and practices. I advocate for the urgency of expansive and wide-ranging epistemological attention to alternative sexual identities as part of a cultural studies research agenda. I argue that, although Zimbabwean homophobia has generally silenced alternative voices, popular culture offers channels through which to engage publicly with that which is generally loathed and feared. I discuss three Zimbabwean popular cultural archives to make the argument that it is through every day cultural practices that Zimbabwean alternative sexual identities can meaningfully be debated and conceptualised. I discuss a Zimbabwean dancehall song titled “Kumba Kwedu” (In Our Home) by the artist named Bazooker, the reception of Facebook activist Tatelicious Karigambe-Sandberg, and Tracy Kadungure’s novel Tanaka Chronicles: The Sexual Awakening. Through the selected popular cultural texts, I show how some Zimbabwean popular cultural expressions of alternative sexualities cleverly undermine heteronormative official values by constantly challenging the assumed heterosexual norm.