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Quietly queer(ing): the normative value of sutura and its potential for young women in urban Senegal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2021

Loes Oudenhuijsen
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Abstract

Sutura (discretion, modesty) is a central element in Senegalese Wolof culture that, among other things, promotes feminine honour through chastity, silence with regard to discussing sexuality with elders, and refraining from articulating same-sex desires in general. Consequently, sutura is seen as limiting the space for non-normative sexualities. However, lesbiennes in Senegal strategically employ sutura to navigate this gender and sexual normativity, whereby they queer the initially heteronormative framework. This article explores how, at the frontiers of international sexual rights activism and its antithetical Islamic social code, young women open new avenues for thinking queer Africa. The article explores young women's diverse tactics to turn sutura from a heteronormative framework into a vehicle for queer expression. These women demonstrate the constant yet indeterminate possibilities to negotiate between normative expectations and queer lives. They furthermore propose an alternative to the international queer frontier of overt resistance and protest, and suggest that the silences that sutura prescribe are more productive for queering their urban environment. By balancing the simultaneous desires of same-sex intimacies, family life, societal expectations and urban success, these women are pioneers in offering new routes for ‘queering queer Africa’, as Stella Nyanzi has described it.

Résumé

Résumé

Sutura (discrétion, modestie) est un élément central de la culture wolof sénégalaise qui, entre autres choses, valorise l'honneur féminin à travers la chasteté, le silence (en ne parlant pas de sexualité avec ses aînés) et le fait de s'abstenir de parler de désirs homosexuels en général. Par voie de conséquence, on pense que sutura limite l'espace réservé aux sexualités non normatives. Or, les femmes lesbiennes sénégalaises emploient le concept de sutura de manière stratégique pour naviguer cette normativité sexuelle et de genre, moyennant quoi elles opèrent une queerization du cadre initialement hétéronormatif. Cet article explore comment, aux frontières du militantisme international pour les droits sexuels et de son code social islamique antithétique, les jeunes femmes ouvrent de nouvelles pistes pour penser l'Afrique queer. L'article explore les diverses tactiques qu'utilisent les jeunes femmes pour transformer le cadre hétéronormatif du sutura en mode d'expression queer. Ces femmes démontrent la possibilité constante mais indéterminée de négocier entre les attentes normatives et la vie queer. Elles proposent ainsi une alternative à une approche internationale flagrante de résistance et de protestation queer, et suggèrent que les silences prescrits par le concept de sutura sont plus productifs pour la queerization de leur environnement urbain. Entre désirs d'intimité homosexuelle, vie de famille, attentes de la société et réussite urbaine, ces femmes sont des pionnières qui ouvrent de nouvelles voies à ce que Stella Nyanzi décrit comme « la queerization de l'Afrique queer ».

Type
Queer experiences in Africa
Information
Africa , Volume 91 , Issue 3 , May 2021 , pp. 434 - 452
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This article is based on fieldwork undertaken between August 2017 and January 2018, and a brief return in July–August 2018, for my MA in African Studies at Leiden University. All names in this article are pseudonyms.

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