Queer African Cinemas

Lindsey B. Green-Simms

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781478018018, 9781478015406
• eBook ISBN: 9781478022633
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: African History

In Queer African Cinemas, Lindsey B. Green-Simms examines films produced by and about queer Africans in the first two decades of the twenty-first century in an environment of increasing antiqueer violence, efforts to criminalize homosexuality, and other state-sanctioned homophobia. Green-Simms argues that these films not only record the fear, anxiety, and vulnerability many queer Africans experience; they highlight how queer African cinematic practices contribute to imagining new hopes and possibilities. Examining globally circulating international art films as well as popular melodramas made for local audiences, Green-Simms emphasizes that in these films queer resistance—contrary to traditional narratives about resistance that center overt and heroic struggle—is often practiced from a position of vulnerability. By reading queer films alongside discussions about censorship and audiences, Green-Simms renders queer African cinema as a rich visual archive that documents the difficulty of queer existence as well as the potentials for queer life-building and survival.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Registering Resistance in Queer African Cinemas
• 1. Making Waves: Queer Eccentricity and West African Wayward Women
• 2. Touching Nollywood: From Negation to Negotiation in Queer Nigerian Cinema
• 3. Cutting Masculinities: Post-apartheid South African Cinema
• 4. Holding Space, Saving Joy: Queer Love and Critical Resilience in East Africa
• Coda: Queer African Cinema’s Destiny
• Notes
• Filmograph
• References
• Index