IRN-AFRICA 2009 Conference Program

Genders
 &
 Sexualities 
in 
Africa:
Opportunities 
and 
Challenges 
in 
the 
21st 
Century

Hosted by SUNY Empire State College, Central New York Center, Syracuse, NY, U.S.A.
September 30th through October 3rd, 2009

Wednesday September 30

(For IRN-Presenters and invited guests only)

6:00pm
Opening reception for presenters and invited guests
- Welcome speech by Sybille Ngo Nyeck, IRN-Africa Coordinator, Sarah Chinn, Director of CLAGS,
and Deb Amory, Dean of Empire State College
7:00pm
Dinner

Thursday October 1

9am – 11:00am Queer Identities in Africa & the Diaspora

“Why do we gather?”: Notes on Nigeria’s ‘LGBTI’ movement, presented by Jack Ume Tocco, Ph.D.
student, Socio-Cultural Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.

“It’s a silent trade”: Female Same-Sex Intimacies in Postcolonial Ghana, presented by Serena Owusua
Dankwa, Ph.D. candidate, Institute for Social Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Center for Gender
Research, University of Bern, Switzerland.

Fight or Flight?: African Migration and the Making of a New Queer Identity, presented by Notisha
Massaquoi, Ph.D. candidate, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education/University of Toronto & Executive
Director of Women’s Health in Women’s Hands Community Health Centre, Toronto, Canada.

“Kodjo besia, supi” and “won hegbemei”: becoming queer citizens in Ghana, presented by Kathleen
O’Mara, Ph.D., Chair African & Latino Studies Department, SUNY Oneonta, USA.

11:15am – 12:00 pm Distance Learning in the 21st Century

A presentation of best practices in online and blended learning, presented by Sheila Aird, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor Empire State College, and Deb Amory, Ph.D., Dean, Empire State College.
12:00 pm– 1:00 pm Lunch

1:00pm – 3: 00pm Queering Religious Practices & Discourses

“Prevent this Abomination”: Examining Some Contemporary Ghanaian Religious Leaders’ Discourses
on Homosexuality, presented by Joseph Oduro-Frimpong, Ph.D. candidate, Department of
Anthropology, Southern Illinois University, USA.

Black Church's Theology and its Effects on Same Gender Loving Community and Gay Civil Rights,
presented by Irene Monroe, Ph.D. candidate, Religion, Gender, and Culture, Harvard Divinity School,
USA.

Swazi Female Sangoma and Chastity: Does an African Sangoma Conceal Her Sexuality in the Name of
Ancestral Possession?, presented by Hebron L. Ndlovu, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religious
Studies, University of Swaziland.

President Jammeh’s threats to behead homosexuals: Examining idioms of nationalism, good Muslim
practice and proper gender roles in public rhetoric in The Gambia, presented by Stella Nyanzi, Ph.D.,
Research Assistant, Law, Gender and Sexuality Research Project, Faculty of Law, Makerere University,
Uganda.

3:15pm – 4:45pm Sexuality in Africa: Queer Methods

Uncomfortable territories: Exploring sexuality as a social artifact of our culture, presented by Samuel
M. Muchoki, Department of Anthropology, University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Methodological Implications in Researching Black Lesbian Sexualities in Johannesburg, presented by

Zintombizethu (Zethu) Matebeni, Ph.D., Researcher, Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research,
Wits University, South Africa.

Teaching about homosexualities to Nigerian university students: a report from the field, presented by
Marc Epprecht, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Global Development Studies & History,
Queen’s University, Canada, and Sule E. Egya.

6:30 pm Dinner (For IRN-Presenters and invited guests only)

Sponsored by Syracuse University's LGBT Studies Program
Hosts: Andrew London, Ph.D., and Margaret Himley, Ph.D, co-chairs

Friday October 2

9:00am – 10:50am (For IRN-Presenters and invited guests only)

IRN-Africa Organizational Discussion with CLAGS representatives (Sarah Chinn, Director, Deesha
Narichania, IRN International Coordinator, Sybille N. Nyeck, IRN-Africa Coordinator)
11:00am – 12:00 pm Race, Privacy & Desire

Inner and Outer Sexual Desire Among Muslim Women in Cairo, presented by Maria Malmström, Ph.D.,
consultant Centre for Global Gender Studies, School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg,
Sweden.

Emergent Sexual Identities: Ex-Gay South Africans, presented by Melissa Hackman, Ph.D. candidate,
Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA.

12:00pm – 1:00pm Lunch

1:00pm – 3:00 pm Artistic Interventions: sexuality, art & media

Naming Names: The Fixing of “Lesbian” Identity in West African Video Films, presented by Lindsey
Simms, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate in Women’s Studies, Duke University, USA.

From Subversive Eroticism to the Ubiquity of Moral Order: Deconstructing Joseph Ramaka’s Politics of
Representation of Lesbian Desire in Karmen Gei, presented by Nathalie Etoke, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
of French and Africana Studies Department of French, Connecticut College & Sybille N. Nyeck, Ph.D.
candidate, Department of Political Science, University of California Los Angeles.

First Kiss, presented by Frieda Ekotto, Ph.D., Associate Professor of French and Francophone Studies,
and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan.

Médias et Sexualité au Cameroun : La Fréquence Manquante, presented by Madeleine Memb,

Journalist, National Radio Broadcasting, Cameroon.

3:15pm – 5:45pm HIV/AIDS: culture and activism

Cultural norms and Gender Identity Dilemmas in Sexuality Counseling in an HIV/AIDS context,
presented by Betty Kwagala, Ph.D., Lecturer, Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics & Research
Associate, Makerere Institute of Social Research, Uganda and Anke Van der Kwaak.

When the “High Risk” Subaltern Speaks: The Zvishavane Women AIDS Prevention Association
(ZWAPA)’s Response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic, 2003- 2008, presented by Estella Musiiwa, Ph.D.,
Economic History Department, University of Zimbabwe.

The New Game in Town: Sex between men in Africa and the AIDS development agenda
Background, presented by Cheikh Traoré, Ph.D., Senior Advisor, Sexual Diversity, United Nations
Development Programme, USA.

“Ce qui est fait pour nous, sans nous, est fait contre nous !’’ De l’internationalisation des Recherches
auprès des MSM en Afrique: un état des lieux, presented by Charles Gueboguo, Researcher and author
of La Question Homosexuelle en Afrique: Le Cas du Cameroun and the upcoming book Sida et
Homosexualité(s) en Afrique: Analyse des Communications de Prévention (Harmattan)
Moving from research to HIV Prevention Interventions for Men having Sex with Men (MSM) in
Senegal: Challenges for further Program Development, presented by Amadou Moreau, Ph.D. candidate,
Sociologist and Demographer, International Program Officer, Partners in Population and Development
(PPD), Dhaka, Bangladesh

6:00pm Art Opening and Reception: Faces & Phases (2006-2009)

Saturday October 3

(For IRN-Presenters and invited guests only)

10:00am – 12:00pm IRN-Africa Closing Award Ceremony & Discussion

12:00pm – Lunch & departures