Type

Text

Type

Dissertation

Advisor

Schwartz, Michael | Levy, Daniel | Fallon, Kathleen | Harris, Dawn.

Date

2016-12-01

Keywords

Gender and Sexuality, Social Movements | Sociology -- African studies -- LGBTQ studies

Department

Department of Sociology

Language

en_US

Source

This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.

Identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/11401/76810

Publisher

The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.

Format

application/pdf

Abstract

The Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009 propelled Uganda to the forefront of global media. In its initial manifestation, the Bill threatened to penalize “aggravated homosexuality†with the death penalty. The media attention earned by the proposed legislation opened avenues for transnational cooperation and communication between US-based Human and LGBTI Rights organizations and Ugandan kuchus – a Ugandan identity that encapsulates various identities of same gender loving or gender nonconforming peoples. This project focuses on this transnational relationship as it interacts with the dynamic of organizing in the midst of a national project of sexual repression. This dissertation asks how kuchu organizing functions from a position dually marginalized by homonationalism, the process through which dominant, Western nations deploy a normativized, nationalist homosexuality for global legitimacy, and homophobic nationalism, the domestic process of making a state ‘straight.’†This question divides into three constituent questions: 1) Is the human rights regime a vehicle of homonationalism? 2) How does homonationalism interact with homophobic nationalism in Uganda? 3) How does this intersection affect local organizing strategies and alliance building? I detail how the structure of transnational advocacy, which aims to empower global human rights activism, restructures and, in some cases, limits local movements. Specifically, I find that and explore how the funding practices and strategies of US organizations and foundations can create economic and political inequalities in Uganda. This analysis complicates and contributes to theories of sexual and gendered citizenship, nationalisms and transnational social movements. In the conclusion, I propose reimagining the politics and goals of transnational cooperation between the two countries. | 194 pages

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