Fellow Prof. Dr. Stephen Brown in conversation with Prof. Dr. Thoko Kaime

Abstract

Abstract: In this episode, Cluster fellow Prof. Dr. Stephen Brown from the University of Ottawa talks with his host Prof. Dr. Thoko Kaime about the situation of the LGBTQ community on the African continent and his project "Strategic Litigation and the Decriminalization of Homosexuality in Africa" which he is currently working on during his fellowship at the Cluster of Excellence.

People & roles

Guest(s): Brown, Samuel T.; Kaime, Thoko

Origins & context

Title: Fellow Prof. Dr. Stephen Brown in conversation with Prof. Dr. Thoko Kaime
Language: English
Podcast series: Cluster Conversations
Date: April 21, 2023

Rights & access

Extent: 29 minutes, 25 seconds

Identifiers & sources

has URL: https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/1_4-Public-engagement_-engagement1/Podcasts/ClusterConversations/Episode5/index.php

Further details

Episode number: 5

Full text

[music] Speaker 1: Cluster Conversations, a podcast by Africa Multiple. [sound effect] Speaker 1: Hello everybody and welcome to our podcast discussion on LGBT rights in Africa. My name is Stephen Brown. I'm a professor of political science at the University of Ottawa in Canada. And this year I am spending at the University of Bayreuth at the Africa Multiple cluster. And I'm working on this issue and I'm here today to talk about it with my host whose name is Togo and he will now introduce himself. Speaker 2: Okay, I'm Togo Kaime and I'm Professor of African Legal Studies at Bayreuth. And it's been a pleasure welcoming you to Bayreuth, Steven. And yeah, working together on this topic. And I look forward to our conversation in this podcast on various topics relating to LGBTQ plus protection on the continent. Speaker 1: So why don't we start with the issue of the topic and how touchy it is. You've organized a speaker series. You called it one of several intractable problems in Africa. Several people say that, you know, LGBT plus rights or LGBT is un-African. Homosexuality is un-African. Transgender is un-African. And in fact some people in the West use that as well. Usually right-wing people saying, oh, you know, we shouldn't impose our culture on Africa and therefore want to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses in many countries. So maybe you could say a few words about that. Speaker 2: Yeah, this is the age-old question whether homosexuality is African. And the argument goes that practices that we describe as being homosexual somehow are not African. My response to this has always been to sometimes make jokes, but in a serious way to convey a certain message. I mean there are Africans that are homosexual. We know them. They say they are homosexual. So if we say homosexual is un-African, then who are these people? If we exclude them from this being or existence as Africans. So as a matter of fact, just looking at the facts themselves, I think we can contend… Read the full text about 3,656 words