CSA Week 5: Love, Marriage + Sexuality by Catherine Dolan https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s Please post your ideas, questions, comments on the issues brought up by the weekly readings here. en-us 2021-01-09 22:05:28 UTC 2026-02-12 04:22:00 UTC hello@padlet.com BRYONY C https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1156024291 If the homophobic rhetoric used by Kenyan officials in this paper is the very practice rejected by the homonationalist state, - one that constructs itself as developed and progressive, through promoting a homosexuality-inclusive agenda and condemning that which oppose this as backward and underdeveloped - then by employing homophobia to enhance the legitimacy of the nation state as depicted in the article, Kenya could be described as a heteronationalist state.]]> 2021-02-02 21:03:21 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1156024291 Melany N. Barasa response to BRYONY C https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1176337355 Yes, very well said stated. I agree with this, and would actually love to cite this Bryony. And I would like to posit that nowhere is this more visible than if you look at the repeal section 162 of the constitution high court ruling . And the events leading up to it (which were decades in the making) during and after. Combining Aloysxa’s Tudor’s theory of migratism and Mahmoud Mamdani’s theory of settler and native. I feel one could begin to bring together notions of the nation-state, with constructions with Black queer theory and conceptions of stranger, home, settler, native.

I would also like to add, nation building as we discussed in the first week, and as you allude to in your statement, is inextricably tied to the ‘cis normative heterosexual project’ as described by African feminists and scholars Varyanne Sika and Awino Okech defining, citizens and non-citizens within a logic that actually reproduces the colonial project of mamdani’s settler and native. It constructs kuchu people within the framework of Aloysxa Tudor’s migratism (theorizes the power relation that ascribes migration to certain people) constructing the stranger(settler), while maintaining and reproducing the cis-heteronormative nation state, among other categories. Such that kuchu people are seen as ‘un-African’ as Dionne Brand says, they are seen as coming from else where never ‘native’]]> 2021-02-08 11:28:30 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1176337355 African Sexual Politics: A Pan-African Lesbian Perspective -Varyanne Sika and Awino Okech https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1176423574 https://sxpolitics.org/trendsandtensions/uploads/capitulos/1-african.pdf 

I just feel like its relevant and a really nicely written contemporary article, that's applicable, plus there's already a reading by Awino Okech provided by Dr.Catherine , this one with Varyanne Sika, citing Lyn Ossome, feels pertinent. - Melany N. Barasa]]> 2021-02-08 11:55:55 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1176423574 The Band: A Tale in 5 Acts- Valiant Waiyaki https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1176430979 https://medium.com/@thatguywaiyaki/the-band-a-tale-in-5-acts-bc110429a16

I feel this medium article brings together in a light but heavy way, conceptions of stranger, belonging and cis-heteronationalist state as Bryony mentioned - Melany N. Barasa]]> 2021-02-08 11:57:51 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1176430979 Lois Douglas https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1179590868 What I found particularly interesting about this reading, is that a lot of emphasis is placed on female chastity. The pressures on a woman to reproduce and become a mother is prominent in this reading. The successful birth a woman has is an ongoing performative process. Motherhood is therefore a gendered expectation which correlates to the institutional patriarchy. In addition, I found it especially intriguing how society perceive cesarean sections to the act of female circumcision - the absence of c-sections protects their reproductive potential and thus their present and future security.]]> 2021-02-08 22:17:11 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1179590868 Tom Vickery https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1181625968 'Instead, biological sex as defined by genitals “indicates a potential that needs to be socially clarified and refined. Genital cutting makes it possible for persons to embody their envisioned moral gender”'

I found the section on the understanding of sex and gender in Eastleigh particularly interesting. Circumcision of both men and women allowed Somalians to become their desired moral gender, categorisation that biological sex failed to bring them. It raises really interesting questions on discursive underpinning of gender, but also on how biological procedure can interjects into this discourse.]]> 2021-02-09 11:47:21 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1181625968 Nazra Ranmall -The body as a political entity https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1185337627 The body of the subject becomes a representation of a political, emotional and sexualized entity. Rhetoric and discourses surrounding the actions of the body, reflect the wider community as large. If the body acts in way x, it is immoral. If the body acts in way y, it is moral. Thus, the body is not confined to the personal realm, it is in possession of government politicians, and ordinary people. It is controlled by outsiders and becomes the face of the nation ]]> 2021-02-10 01:52:15 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1185337627 Motherhood and kinship links - Jennifer https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1186270388 This exploration of Somali female refugees’ desire to avoid Caesarean section reveals so many fascinating facets of ‘motherhood’ in this community. We see that repeated, frequent childbearing is essential to the women’s security because it cements the kin relationships with her husband’s family - who are often scattered around the globe - and thus secures the woman’s continued financial support by reducing her chances of being abandoned.  It would be interesting to explore how the Somali men see fatherhood in this context.
Haram’s study of ‘modern’ women in Tanzania seemed to illustrate a similar, although less extreme, process there whereby children established a durable kin link with the father that the mother could then use to gain financial support.
]]> 2021-02-10 08:47:50 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1186270388 Yana Kremer https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1187177238 This article really shows how the notion of love / relationship / marriage changes from one generation to the other. While in previous generations, marriage was seen to be life-long, and a marriage meant not only commitment to a partner but also to the partner's family, this changed in current generations. Nowadays, young professionals place the idea of romantic love in the foreground of marriage. They also tend to delay marriage and childbirth into their early thirties rather than their early twenties, as was common in their parents' generation. ]]> 2021-02-10 13:15:10 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1187177238 Yukie Suzuki https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1189058368 I found this article shows how elopement happens in Tanzania with perspectives from both men and women. I have heard this kind of thing in Africa, however it was surprising for me to know in detail. It was surprising that even family of women who are victims of elopement think there was a fault from the women. Also this article mentions about Nyerere's prulalism with international law and customary law for the 120 ethnic groups in Tanzania. I assume that this is related to upcoming topic in this module and looking forward to know about it more.]]> 2021-02-10 18:37:10 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1189058368 Maria Marrone https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1193152026 Something that kept coming up for me as I read this article was the contrast of situation between these Somali women and women in the Global North. When looking at pharaonic circumcision, this process is oftentimes regarded as a means of modifying a woman's body in a way that might not particularly be helpful to her anatomy or her physical functions. I contrast this though with the way in which cesarian sections have become common practice in the Global North. Many times this practice is also forced upon women, especially black women, for the sake of medical convenience and to speed up the process and this results in a lot of complications as well. It complicates the idea of where the line ought to be drawn when it comes to the cesarian practice. 

]]> 2021-02-11 16:28:44 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1193152026 Olga Prudenko I find this article quite controversial. There are not enough medical evidence about C-sections complications, only general assumptions, however many medical studies demonstrate that Caesarean sections have many serious complications for all women. I find very weird, when Lowe mentions the meaning of motherhood and what does it mean to be a mother:' To be a mother is not to be defined by an individual relationship to one child, but it can be achieved to greater or lesser extents through multiple pregnancies and deliveries'. No, in reality, to be a mother- defined by an individual relationship to the child and to all children parents have. I don't think that women will bear children only for one idea how quickly to immigrate with them or achieve financial stability . There are many cases in Somali society when divorce or men/ husband abandonment is common thing, so how 'frequent childbearing can 'cement kin relationships with the husband'? olli060572 https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1193814241 2021-02-11 18:16:50 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1193814241 Future planning https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1194698927 I found this paper extremely insightful, presenting nuanced understandings of how and why Somali women in Kenya reject c sections yet abide by FGC, both being practises inherently tied to the ability for women to embody their moral gender, keep up kinship ties and plan for their blood lines survival, as well as their own through the capacity to bear more children. It was insightful to see how these practises were linked to entangled factors such as economic and social stability, migration, as well as culture (but important to note not just to culture). I think what was most interesting for me was the realisation that marginalised people can and do plan for the future; as Lowe puts it, these Somali women are not just "trapped in the relentless present" (p. 199) like many discourses on refugees present, but instead, through rejecting c sections, they are protecting the possibility of recurrent childbearing and migration, inherently future-orientated goals. In other classes where we have been discussing climate change and the anthropocene, I have held the idea that the concept of "sustainability" and the way in which it is expected to be carried out is not always possible for marginalised groups, who often may not have the option to plan ahead and worry about future generations, only having the capacity to worry about their situation in the here and now. This paper however nuanced this opinion I held, and I think it is something especially pertinent to remember when understanding the situations of refugees.
Emma N ]]> 2021-02-11 21:28:50 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1194698927 Shahlaa Kurji https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195009559 This reading was of particular interest to me as i have written about marriage ]]> 2021-02-11 23:59:40 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195009559 Oliver McKenzie https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195042314 Okech's complex exposition of the politics of gender-based discrimination left me with lots to consider. One of the most resonant points made in the paper discusses the patriarchal view of women's place in the nation building project. As nation building is tied with both reproduction of ethnic bodies, women are conceived of as both central to and threatening to the project. They are, in the first place, the bearers of the next generation, but their potential to disrupt ethnic lineage is the principal reason for violence against them as an act of disempowerment. ]]> 2021-02-12 00:23:18 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195042314 Helina Shebeshe https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195055825 One thing that really stood out for me in this piece is the imbalanced justification for policing women's bodies and their sexuality. 

The piece talks about infibulation as necessary to curb a woman's erotic desire outside marriage to prevent the 'product[ion] [of] children
who ruptured processes of patriarchal lineage and could
not be recognized as legitimate in the eyes of God' but within the same paragraph acknowledges that divorce and remarriage are common and women can and do end up contributing to various lineages. 

...just seems like more 'justification' for policing women's bodies and suppressing their sexuality
]]> 2021-02-12 00:33:33 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195055825 Refusing Caesarean Sections to Protect Fertile Futures... 2473522 https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195260702 I found Lowe's article particularly perceptive, because it reveals the extent to which the women in the article are prepared to go (refusing C-sections and risking the life of their unborn child and indeed their own life) to attain a natural (vaginal) birth, which in their approximation, will not interfere with their future reproductive capability, or their socio-economic stability. Paradoxically, Lowe also highlights the obvious  pressure felt by women to 'perform,' by way of producing lots of children frequently and the fear of the possible repercussions these women may encounter, in the event that these 'highly gendered' expectations of motherhood are not met. I found the referencing of female cutting (the pharaonic type) and the cutting of the abdomen (by way of a C-section) most intriguing, however as the author pointedly submits, 'Somali women's fears were not about the 'opening' and 'closing' of bodies, but about the opening and closing of future possibilities.' 
Laura A]]> 2021-02-12 03:41:44 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195260702 Kiyingi Muddu https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195348240 Diaper discourses, with all their inflationary, scaremongering underpinnings, reveal the continued epistemic distortion of sexuality in public discourses, exacerbated by politicians as a political capital in this case. The unsubstantiated claims imply that queer bodies are left at the mercy of experimentation, "risk", fear and self-denial of their sexuality while heteronormative politics gains currency. Where does that leave a teen gay in Uganda, Kenya,  name it, young, inexperienced?
   ]]> 2021-02-12 05:35:36 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195348240 Tanya https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195735483 I found this article interesting with respect to where young people are hoping to find love and what that looks like through films, radio shows, articles and columns. This is a transitional generation, one unlike the one before with regards to marriage. Who and what sets the agenda for marriage and interpersonal relationships is an interesting point. 
I am also intrigued to see how the impact of a distant family with have in future generations. More individualisation and autonomy and certainly a change in the family structure, much like we see in the west. ]]> 2021-02-12 09:37:29 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195735483 Nikhil https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195760816 This paper explored the uptake of HIV treatment in rural eastern Uganda specifically by the male population. This was explored using concepts of 'respectability' (endorsed by society as a whole) and 'reputation' (manifested within the male group), yet the two also intertwine and inform each other in many circumstances. Although somewhat limited by the range of the study - there were only 26 interviewees and one interviewer who did not join main social gatherings in bars etc. - the authors acknowledge this themselves and also point towards the fact that it is the first study of masculinity in regard to HIV treatment in Uganda. The limits do not jeopardise the conclusions and link well to studies in other areas.

The paper introduced me to an interesting concept of 'dividuality' whereby the individual is 'multiply authored and holds a complex position within a network of relations'. With much emphasis on the individual, individual liberty, the uniqueness of personhood and so on in much social science theory, particularly development studies, it revealed an curious dynamic to this rural community in how reputational forms of masculinity and respectable forms of masculinity effect individual choices, in turn projecting identity of the male self into the shifting communal arena. ]]> 2021-02-12 09:47:12 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195760816 Rebecca Luff https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195763298 This paper shows how the Meru single women have created new identities of 'modern women' and forged new futures for themselves. As in much of Africa, women are remaining single. Haram illustrates that as female sexuality can be battered women have the right to negotiate with it - men have to earn it. That when women speak of love and passion it closely comes with money. Single women frequently attach themselves to well-stablished men, and play up to the role dictated by the male constructed gender norms of women: to be shy, docile and humble or they "will not get his money" (222). I found this particularly interesting as in order to learn how to support themselves and their children they manipulate the gender norms to manoeuvre male control. In doing so these women have acquired experience and become "too clever..sly, smart and deceitful" (298), by using the gender norms which act to oppress them to directly threaten or become an outright danger to male control and authority. ]]> 2021-02-12 09:48:13 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195763298 Shahlaa Kurji (continued) https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195770843 This reading was of particular interest to me as I have written about marriage in Rwanda and Kenya, in the aftermath of conflict, in previous assignments for other modules. 
What has stood out to me in both incidences is the view that those who were raped, were vilified and seen to have defiled the institution of marriage or seen as damaged goods and not suitable for marriage. Particularly in Kenya, there is cases of (mostly) women who were left by their husbands to provide for themselves and their families because they had been victims of rape and had been blamed for it by their partners and their communities. ]]> 2021-02-12 09:51:05 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195770843 Kenza Bensaid https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195815523 I think it was interesting to put forward the questioning of the relationship between C-sections, and the 'technocratic model of birth' in the larger context of a patriarchal system. It actually reminded me of a book called Witches, written by Mona Chollet, linking the European witch hunts, which took place during the renaissance (rather than the Middle Ages), with a will to untie the bonds between women and isolate them from each other, as even women meetings could be a valid reason for them to be burned/murdered. Among other things, it participated in warding women off of child birth practices, as the ability to give birth represents great power because humanity's subsistence remains on that. Therefore, in addition to considering the refusal of C-sections as a realisation of gender, and since it became a common practice in the Global North, I think it might be interesting to also analyse it through the lens of transnational power relations and North/South duality. ]]> 2021-02-12 10:07:59 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195815523 Alexander Curtis https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195913782 It is interesting that a taboo subject at the centre of a moral panic is openly discussed in Kenya using the vulgar language of adult diaper popular theories.  Mbembe's comments on the 'aesthetics of vulgarity' in discourse strike me as particularly relevant when seeking to understand this apparent occurrence.]]> 2021-02-12 10:47:22 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195913782 Josh Dowley https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195931061 Reading this article I felt that there was not enough attention paid to religion in the context of caesarean sections. Lowe does mention that ‘if God intended for a child to live or die, it would, regardless of any medical interventions’ (198)’. However, she does not explore how this belief in God’s will affected how the women saw their futures. As is clear throughout, women who had to have caesarean sections were concerned about ‘the opening and closing of future possibilities’ (194) that it entailed for them. And yet they also lived under a religious framework that they believed transcended medicine. It would have been interesting to explore if women who were unable to have children, due to the complications of a caesarean section, found comfort in this overarching religious belief. Or if, unable to have children and potentially losing their sense of womanhood, these women were able to construct a new identity on the basis that whatever had happened to them was God’s will. ]]> 2021-02-12 10:54:22 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195931061 Nur saleh https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195935493 It was interesting for me to learn about how Uganda's queer people or 'Kuchus' create 'counter publics' that serve as safe spaces for them to express their identity in the context where homosexuality is heavily stigmatised. The paper particularly explore the virtual counter publics created through social media and dating apps which at times can 'challenge dominant binaries about what is public and private that define the physical social landscape'. ]]> 2021-02-12 10:56:14 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195935493 Ariel 6860201 https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195942533 This article was amazing. The inclusion of first person experiences aid my understanding of what it's like to be queer ]]> 2021-02-12 10:59:17 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195942533 Ariel 6860201 https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195944858 I throughly enjoyed this article. The interviews really gave a clear representation of what it's like to be queer in Uganda. What I found most interesting was the utilization of Lavender marriages. Most of the users that he talked to were simply looking for likeminded people. ]]> 2021-02-12 11:00:19 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195944858 6849391 https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195965834 Childbearing and thus forming social ties became a strategy for Somali women to survive in dramatically shifting social terrains, and also an origin of their rejection of cesarean sections. The social context of displacement, the religious ideology behind circumcision, and the cultural context of patriarchy combined to shape these mothers' understanding of their own bodies. In this context, women's social status and social life are fully gendered. They are simultaneously endowed with rights and obligations by virtue of their fertility as women. At the same time, this case may also enhance our understanding of "status" in an unstable environment where one's identity is also in a precarious state and thus needs to be continuously reproduced and consolidated: mothers need to keep on becoming mothers. It is this unstable context that shape their unique self-identities and logic of behaviors.
-Zhenyuan Fang]]> 2021-02-12 11:08:48 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1195965834 Stefania Cavallaro stefycavallaro https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1202959842 Haram through the interviews demonstrates how some women, for instance Anna, managed to escape from Meru (rural area)to Arusha, and  find a better quality of life.(especially being economically dipendent).  However I disagree with the fact that those who escape  may be considered modern women, because  although they earn their money,  and have a good quality of life, they  still have multiple affairs in exchange of something(gift, money). I can understand those women who live in extreme poverty, and see's as only solution commercial sex,  due to lack of education, and having being thought to only be a good wife and mother. 

]]> 2021-02-15 09:07:24 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1202959842 Stefania Cavallaro stefycavallaro https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1270784865 This articles clearly express the need of some women to escape from the rural area to the urban one, in search of fortune and better quality of life. Some women perfectly manage to overcome their situation, by finding a good job(see the case of Anna) or coming up with great ideas that ensures a sort of income. I however do not agree with Haram regarding the fact that these women are future oriented, because even though they manage to escape from the rural area, they still rely on men, men who in the past didn't behave well nor fulfilled their duties. In my opinion future oriented means that they should be indipendent, and rely only on that person who really cares about them.
 ]]> 2021-03-04 18:59:50 UTC https://padlet.com/cd171/ke3bn3bsxvp4p98s/wish/1270784865