To Come Out or Not to Come Out: Queer Coming Out in Nine Lives by Zodwa Nyoni

Queer studies, as a field of gender studies with particular focus on LGBTQ+ culture and issues at the end of the twentieth century, has increased nonbinary individuals’ visibility. Because it has enabled queer people to define and reveal their non-normative gender identities and sexual preferences i...

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Main Author: Emre Ozmen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Atatürk University 2023-03-01
Series:Theatre Academy
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Online Access:https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2825747
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author Emre Ozmen
author_facet Emre Ozmen
author_sort Emre Ozmen
collection DOAJ
description Queer studies, as a field of gender studies with particular focus on LGBTQ+ culture and issues at the end of the twentieth century, has increased nonbinary individuals’ visibility. Because it has enabled queer people to define and reveal their non-normative gender identities and sexual preferences in many ways and platforms. This process, also called “coming out”, has become one of the watersheds in a queer person’s life. Despite its importance for the queer individuals, this process is a rather manifold one. Variables such as race, religion, and family cause difficulties in terms of the coming out process of individuals. In 2014, Zimbabwean playwright Zodwa Nyoni wrote Nine Lives which delves into the coming out process and its challenges. The play portrays Ishmael’s experiences who flees from his country Zimbabwe due to his sexual identity. Although he succeeds entering the United Kingdom, Ishmael continues to struggle to be out with his sexual preferences. This paper scrutinises the process of coming out and how the internal and external factors in a queer person’s life affect the process and its outcome as they are manifested in Nine Lives.
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spelling doaj-art-47b8cb9fd3214a338b0b689cc93f85522025-02-06T12:41:25ZengAtatürk UniversityTheatre Academy2980-16562023-03-0111698355To Come Out or Not to Come Out: Queer Coming Out in Nine Lives by Zodwa NyoniEmre Ozmenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4179-7792Queer studies, as a field of gender studies with particular focus on LGBTQ+ culture and issues at the end of the twentieth century, has increased nonbinary individuals’ visibility. Because it has enabled queer people to define and reveal their non-normative gender identities and sexual preferences in many ways and platforms. This process, also called “coming out”, has become one of the watersheds in a queer person’s life. Despite its importance for the queer individuals, this process is a rather manifold one. Variables such as race, religion, and family cause difficulties in terms of the coming out process of individuals. In 2014, Zimbabwean playwright Zodwa Nyoni wrote Nine Lives which delves into the coming out process and its challenges. The play portrays Ishmael’s experiences who flees from his country Zimbabwe due to his sexual identity. Although he succeeds entering the United Kingdom, Ishmael continues to struggle to be out with his sexual preferences. This paper scrutinises the process of coming out and how the internal and external factors in a queer person’s life affect the process and its outcome as they are manifested in Nine Lives.https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2825747coming outqueer theorycontemporary british theatrequeer theatrezodwa nyoniaçılmakuir teoriçağdaş i̇ngiliz tiyatrosukuir tiyatrozodwa nyoni
spellingShingle Emre Ozmen
To Come Out or Not to Come Out: Queer Coming Out in Nine Lives by Zodwa Nyoni
Theatre Academy
coming out
queer theory
contemporary british theatre
queer theatre
zodwa nyoni
açılma
kuir teori
çağdaş i̇ngiliz tiyatrosu
kuir tiyatro
zodwa nyoni
title To Come Out or Not to Come Out: Queer Coming Out in Nine Lives by Zodwa Nyoni
title_full To Come Out or Not to Come Out: Queer Coming Out in Nine Lives by Zodwa Nyoni
title_fullStr To Come Out or Not to Come Out: Queer Coming Out in Nine Lives by Zodwa Nyoni
title_full_unstemmed To Come Out or Not to Come Out: Queer Coming Out in Nine Lives by Zodwa Nyoni
title_short To Come Out or Not to Come Out: Queer Coming Out in Nine Lives by Zodwa Nyoni
title_sort to come out or not to come out queer coming out in nine lives by zodwa nyoni
topic coming out
queer theory
contemporary british theatre
queer theatre
zodwa nyoni
açılma
kuir teori
çağdaş i̇ngiliz tiyatrosu
kuir tiyatro
zodwa nyoni
url https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/2825747
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