Sexuality and the Politics of Rights in Southern Africa

Southern Africa has recently hosted an unprecedented growth in the discussion of what constitute appropriate sexual behaviors, in the proclamation and visibility of sexual identities, and in the dramatic conflicts that arise over associated rights. This has brought questions of gender equality, expressions of cultural authenticity, and the subject of rights to the fore in local attempts to define the post-colonial nation. As the most active protagonists in this burgeoning significance of the sexual, Zimbabwe and South Africa appear at first glance to have approached sexuality in distinctly contrary ways, epitomizing either the intransigence of the 'traditional', or the promise of 'liberation'. But the analysis in this book reveals their shared recognition of sexuality as an instrument of social cohesion, and traces the historical continuities between the colonial regulation of sex and current debates.
In considering the contrasting role of the constitution as a platform for rights in each country, their different engagement with customary law and legal subjectivity provides a powerful lens through which to examine key elements of gender relations, post-colonial nationhood and sexual rights.