Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies in African HomosexualitiesStephen O. Murray, Will Roscoe Among the many myths created about Africa, the claim that homosexuality and gender diversity are absent or incidental is one of the oldest and most enduring. Historians, anthropologists, and many contemporary Africans alike have denied or overlooked African same-sex patterns or claimed that such patterns were introduced by Europeans or Arabs. In fact, same-sex love and nonbinary genders were and are widespread in Africa. Boy-Wives and Female Husbands documents the presence of this diversity in some fifty societies in every region of the continent south of the Sahara. Essays by scholars from a variety of disciplines explore institutionalized marriages between women, same-sex relations between men and boys in colonial work settings, mixed gender roles in east and west Africa, and the emergence of LGBTQ activism in South Africa, which became the first nation in the world to constitutionally ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. Also included are oral histories, folklore, and translations of early ethnographic reports by German and French observers. Boy-Wives and Female Husbands was the first serious study of same-sex sexuality and gender diversity in Africa, and this edition includes a new foreword by Marc Epprecht that underscores the significance of the book for a new generation of African scholars, as well as reflections on the book's genesis by the late Stephen O. Murray. This book is freely available in an open access edition thanks to the generous support of the Murray Hong Family Trust. Access the book online at the SUNY Open Access Repository at http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12648/1714. |
Contents
An Introduction | |
Overview | |
Kamau a 25YearOld Kikuyu | |
Occurrences of ContrarySex among the Negro Population of Zanzibar 1899 | |
Overview | |
Visit to a Dakar Boy Brothel | |
Overview | |
Homosexuality among the Natives of Southwest Africa 19251926 | |
Homosexual Crime in Early Colonial Zimbabwe | |
Love Sex and the Western | |
Sexual Politics in Contemporary Southern Africa | |
WomanWoman Marriage in Africa | |
The Challenge of African Homosexualities | |
African Groups with SameSex Patterns | |
Other editions - View all
Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities Will Roscoe,Stephen O. Murray No preview available - 2021 |
Boy-Wives and Female Husbands: Studies in African Homosexualities Will Roscoe,Stephen O. Murray,Marc Epprecht No preview available - 2021 |
Common terms and phrases
Abdullahi According active African homosexualities African societies age-stratified Arab Azande Bafia Bantu Basotho boys called circumcised claims coast colonial cottage court cross-dressing cult cultural Dahomey Dakar daudu described discourses dominant dress ethnographic European Evans-Pritchard example female husbands feminine friends Gaciru GALZ Gaudio gay Hausa girls groups happened Hausa Hausa society Herero heterosexual homoeroticism homophobia homosexual behavior homosexual relations homosexual relationships homosexuality intercourse involved Islamic Kenya khanith Kikuyu lesbian Lesotho live mabasha male homosexuality marriage married masculine mashoga men’s Mombasa Murray Muslim mutual masturbation native never nonmasculine noted older organized Ovambos partners passive patrilineal pederasty penetrated percent person play Porter practices prostitutes referred reported role s)he same-sex patterns sexual relations Shepherd shoga identity sleep social sodomy status Sudan Swahili there’s thing told traditional transvestites tribes West Africa Western wife wives woman woman-woman women’s clothing Yoruba young Zande Zanzibar Zimbabwe