Part of
Gender and Language in Sub-Saharan Africa: Tradition, struggle and changeEdited by Lilian Lem Atanga, Sibonile Edith Ellece, Lia Litosseliti and Jane Sunderland
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 33] 2013
► pp. 253–274
Edited by Lilian Lem Atanga, Sibonile Edith Ellece, Lia Litosseliti and Jane Sunderland
[IMPACT: Studies in Language, Culture and Society 33] 2013
► pp. 253–274
Chapter 12. Homophobic language and linguistic resistance in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
In this chapter I show how language can be used both to objectify those who engage in same-sex relations and to subvert homophobia and heterosexism. The chapter reflects a life history study of eight men who engage in same-sex relations, based on a series of interviews with each man. The study found that language was a key site of struggle, serving both as a mechanism for the regulation of individuals and as a vehicle for strategic ‘resist-stance’. Resist-stance was through the employment of isiNgqumo – a language predominantly spoken by Black ‘gay’ men in South Africa (Rudwick and Ntuli 2008). However, such resist-stance had its own limitations, as the language was associated with certain Communities of Practice, and was not spoken by all the men interviewed. The chapter calls for more sociolinguistic work in this area.
Cited by
Cited by 9 other publications
Ellece, Sibonile E.
2020. Homophobia and the Media: A Sample Critical Discourse Analysis. In The Oxford Handbook of Language and Sexuality, 
Epprecht, Marc & Nomusa Mngoma
2023. Negotiating sexual and gender diversity in rural and peri-urban KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Culture, Health & Sexuality 25:4 ► pp. 490 ff.
Kamwendo, Gregory
2015. “Those promoting and practising homosexuality are worse than pigs and dogs”: Linguistic assault on homosexuals in Malawi. Agenda 29:1 ► pp. 177 ff.
Leap, William L.
2020. Studying a Not-so-Secret “Secret Code”. In Language Before Stonewall, ► pp. 1 ff.
Livermon, Xavier
2018. Colonialism and African Sexualities. In The Palgrave Handbook of African Colonial and Postcolonial History, ► pp. 1175 ff.
Lynch, Ingrid, Finn Reygan & Molemo Ramphalile
2022. ‘Having to use English others us': South African terminologies of sexual and gender diversity. Sexualities 25:5-6 ► pp. 804 ff.
Mfecane, Sakhumzi
2016. “Ndiyindoda” [I am a man]: theorising Xhosa masculinity. Anthropology Southern Africa 39:3 ► pp. 204 ff.
Milani, Tommaso M
2014. Querying the queer from Africa: Precarious bodies – precarious gender. Agenda 28:4 ► pp. 75 ff.
Msibi, Thabo & Valenshia Jagessar
2015. Restricted freedom: negotiating same-sex identifications in the residential spaces of a South African university. Higher Education Research & Development 34:4 ► pp. 750 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 23 november 2023. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.