A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film

Gibson Ncube’s monograph produces a Pan-African archive of films that grapple with the specificities of queer embodiment in several regions on the African continent. Queer Bodies in African Films does important intra-continental theorising about what it means to be queer in Africa, or African and q...

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Main Author: Jarred Thompson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Johannesburg 2025-04-01
Series:The Thinker
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/4146
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author Jarred Thompson
author_facet Jarred Thompson
author_sort Jarred Thompson
collection DOAJ
description Gibson Ncube’s monograph produces a Pan-African archive of films that grapple with the specificities of queer embodiment in several regions on the African continent. Queer Bodies in African Films does important intra-continental theorising about what it means to be queer in Africa, or African and queer, in both North and sub-Saharan African contexts, with a corpus that maps filmed queer bodies in selected Maghrebian (chapter one), Egyptian (chapter two), East African (chapter three), and South African films (chapter four). Throughout, Ncube centres the filmed queer body as a site where “multiple and often intersecting discourses and narratives” (Ncube 2022, p.2) contest for legitimacy within their given cultural milieus. In this frame, the author remains attentive to “how the touching of bodies and rubbing together of physical bodies produce feelings and affection and forge (dis)connections” (2). As Ncube avers, this kind of pan-African consideration of queerness is lacking in Queer African Studies, and the monograph provides a useful entry point for scholars looking to do similar intracontinental research.
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spelling doaj-art-63b6ac68cc9c42e0bc20b2dc2060b50b2025-08-20T03:07:21ZengUniversity of JohannesburgThe Thinker2075-24582616-907X2025-04-01102110.36615/xbqj3343A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African FilmJarred Thompson Gibson Ncube’s monograph produces a Pan-African archive of films that grapple with the specificities of queer embodiment in several regions on the African continent. Queer Bodies in African Films does important intra-continental theorising about what it means to be queer in Africa, or African and queer, in both North and sub-Saharan African contexts, with a corpus that maps filmed queer bodies in selected Maghrebian (chapter one), Egyptian (chapter two), East African (chapter three), and South African films (chapter four). Throughout, Ncube centres the filmed queer body as a site where “multiple and often intersecting discourses and narratives” (Ncube 2022, p.2) contest for legitimacy within their given cultural milieus. In this frame, the author remains attentive to “how the touching of bodies and rubbing together of physical bodies produce feelings and affection and forge (dis)connections” (2). As Ncube avers, this kind of pan-African consideration of queerness is lacking in Queer African Studies, and the monograph provides a useful entry point for scholars looking to do similar intracontinental research. https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/4146Pan-AfricaQueer EmbodimentAfrican FilmGibson NcubeQueer Bodies in African Films
spellingShingle Jarred Thompson
A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film
The Thinker
Pan-Africa
Queer Embodiment
African Film
Gibson Ncube
Queer Bodies in African Films
title A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film
title_full A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film
title_fullStr A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film
title_full_unstemmed A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film
title_short A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film
title_sort pan african exploration of queer embodiment in african film
topic Pan-Africa
Queer Embodiment
African Film
Gibson Ncube
Queer Bodies in African Films
url https://journals.uj.ac.za/index.php/The_Thinker/article/view/4146
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