Mpumelelo Zamokuhle Zulu speaks with Katleho Mahlobo, Jessie Jabulisile Mdlalose and Katlego Chibamba
Mpumelelo Zamokuhle Zulu speaks with Katleho Mahlobo and Jessie Jabulisile Mdlalose from Newcastle Prideful Legends, and Katlego Chibamba from the Positive Vibes Trust. What follows is a compilation of two discussions, held in English and isiZulu. Mpumelelo Zamokuhle Zulu’s English translations from isiZulu appear in brackets.
My conversations with Jabulisile, Katleho and Katlego about the experiences of grassroots LGBTI+ activism and knowledge creation are heartfelt and eye- opening. We trace the intimacies between activism and methodologies used to create knowledge at the grassroots community level. The decolonial-queer theoretical standpoint requires interrogating and challenging normative assumptions, questioning stable categorisations and subverting hierarchies rooted in colonial cis-heteropatriarchal influences (Pereira 2019; Detamore 2016). Through these conversations, we queer and decolonise dominant epistemologies while reflecting on the unique ways queer knowledge is created in the global South. We explore the emancipatory potential of storytelling, uncovering resilience, trauma, queer joy and the complexities of the mundane. This engagement becomes a vantage point for exploring epistemic violence, examining the intimacies of queering imagined separations between “communities” and “researchers” and interrogating how the unequal power dynamics between funders and recipient organisations influence knowledge creation. As a testament to Nnaemeka’s (2004) theorising of African-centred social change activism through negotiations and no ego, we also shed light on the nuances of advocacy for gender and sexually diverse individuals in contexts of traditional leadership, funding disparities, the criminalisation of same-sex relationships and unfavourable political climates.
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