As the gay rights debate rages in the United States, dialogue on the issue is even more fragmented in Africa as its 52 countries have diverse histories, cultures and religions.
Activist blogger Sokari Ekine will discuss this in her lecture “Imagine Futures: Does the LGBTI community in Africa have reason to celebrate?” Her talk on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex Africans, presented as part of the MLK Symposium, is 7 p.m. Jan. 21 at the Educational Conference Center, School of Social Work.
“It is difficult to discuss the African LGBTI community as a whole,” says Ekine, a Nigerian social activist with a multidisciplinary background in education, technology and human rights. “However broadly speaking the difficulties facing members of the LGBTI community would depend on several issues.” These include whether same-sex relationships are legal or illegal; social attitudes irrespective of legal status of LGBTI; religion or religions practiced and how much these influence every day life; class and to a lesser extent race or ethnicity; colonialism, levels of politicization within the LGBTI community; and whether one is able to be out or forced to remain in the closet.
For the past five years Ekine has worked on various online projects and is the founder and principle author of Black Looks, an award-winning Pan African feminist blog covering a range of Africa-related issues.
While technology has helped advance activism in Africa, social media outlets such as Facebook and MySpace have made little impact, she says.
There are a number of reasons for this, she says, including the prohibitive cost of access, poor infrastructure in some countries, and having to rely on public spaces such as cyber cafes that are costly and lack privacy.
“More so there’s a lack of understanding of the potential benefits of using social media for collaboration, advocacy and campaigning,” she adds.
Ekine, who has a master’s degree in human rights and education from the University of London, says she particularly is interested in the use of technology as a tool for social justice and human rights.
The lecture is sponsored by the School of Social Work.
