Henriette Gunkel is a Post-doctoral Research Fellow of the NRF Niche Area 'Culture, Heritage and Social Transformation' at the University of Fort Hare, South Africa. She is the author of the book 'The Cultural Politics of Female Sexuality in South Africa' (New York, London: Routledge, 2010). Broader academic interests center on the politics of race and racism, postcolonial theory, queer theory, and feminist theories of the body - the later also in relation to postcolonial African cinema.
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When District 9 was released…the film was an immediate box office hit…This was much to the surprise of critics, reviewers and bloggers, who seemed astonished…that a science fiction film with this impact could originate from South Africa.
In September 2007, the liberal German daily newspaper Süddeutsche published an article entitled ‘Migrant kids against Gays’.[1] The article referred to the results of a study initiated by the German Lesbian and Gay Federation (LSVD), investigating attitudes among German students…
What is it about this particular historical moment that makes discourses of gay rights such an important resource for US/Western imperial projects? How do you account for the rapidity with which gay rights have been retrospectively mobilized as emblematic of Western freedoms?
