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(Re)storing and (Re)storying men with broken wrists: using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un-African
My research attempts to challenge the contemporary perception of homosexuality as “un-African”. This misconception is often grounded in the perceived absence of queer people of colour from the “archive” of black African (hi)stories that shape our collective understandings of who is and who is not pr...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English English |
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Centre for Film and Media Studies
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613253615484928 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Nyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso |
| author2 | Mtshali, Mbongeni |
| author_browse | Mtshali, Mbongeni Nyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso |
| author_facet | Mtshali, Mbongeni Nyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso |
| author_sort | Nyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | My research attempts to challenge the contemporary perception of homosexuality as “un-African”. This misconception is often grounded in the perceived absence of queer people of colour from the “archive” of black African (hi)stories that shape our collective understandings of who is and who is not properly “African”. Given that what we do know of how gender is conceived among African societies comes to us predominantly via the colonial archive with all its attendant elisions and lacunae, there is a strong case to be made for treating these histories and the authority they assume in defining our contemporary politics of belonging with some scepticism. Accordingly, I (re)turn to the archive of indigenous African folktales as a means to challenge cultural myths of queer black (un)belonging. In my final thesis project, I take the Xhosa ntsomi (folktale) seriously as a mode of producing and transmitting cultural knowledge and appropriate its formal aesthetics to create queer speculative fictions/myths that subvert neocolonial heteropatriarchy and the attempted erasure of black queer personhood from the story of Africa. Using the culturally embedded formal and narrative tropes of intsomi alongside techniques of biomythography and critical fabulations to queer the neocolonial archive, I work to “(re)store” and “(re)story” black queer African personhood, affirming its complicated place in African society and the visions of freedom and belonging animated by our shared histories of anti-/decolonial struggle. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42633 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:33:12.104Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| publisherStr | Centre for Film and Media Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/42633 (Re)storing and (Re)storying men with broken wrists: using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un-African Nyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso Mtshali, Mbongeni Mbothwe, Mandla Intsomi mystoriography critical fabulation Postmemory archive repertoire queer African (re)store (re)story My research attempts to challenge the contemporary perception of homosexuality as “un-African”. This misconception is often grounded in the perceived absence of queer people of colour from the “archive” of black African (hi)stories that shape our collective understandings of who is and who is not properly “African”. Given that what we do know of how gender is conceived among African societies comes to us predominantly via the colonial archive with all its attendant elisions and lacunae, there is a strong case to be made for treating these histories and the authority they assume in defining our contemporary politics of belonging with some scepticism. Accordingly, I (re)turn to the archive of indigenous African folktales as a means to challenge cultural myths of queer black (un)belonging. In my final thesis project, I take the Xhosa ntsomi (folktale) seriously as a mode of producing and transmitting cultural knowledge and appropriate its formal aesthetics to create queer speculative fictions/myths that subvert neocolonial heteropatriarchy and the attempted erasure of black queer personhood from the story of Africa. Using the culturally embedded formal and narrative tropes of intsomi alongside techniques of biomythography and critical fabulations to queer the neocolonial archive, I work to “(re)store” and “(re)story” black queer African personhood, affirming its complicated place in African society and the visions of freedom and belonging animated by our shared histories of anti-/decolonial struggle. 2026-01-21T07:07:29Z 2026-01-21T07:07:29Z 2025 2026-01-15T06:59:27Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters Masters http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42633 en eng application/pdf Centre for Film and Media Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Intsomi mystoriography critical fabulation Postmemory archive repertoire queer African (re)store (re)story Nyezi, Freddy Junior Sikhanyiso (Re)storing and (Re)storying men with broken wrists: using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un-African |
| thesis_degree_str | Master's |
| title | (Re)storing and (Re)storying men with broken wrists: using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un-African |
| title_full | (Re)storing and (Re)storying men with broken wrists: using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un-African |
| title_fullStr | (Re)storing and (Re)storying men with broken wrists: using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un-African |
| title_full_unstemmed | (Re)storing and (Re)storying men with broken wrists: using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un-African |
| title_short | (Re)storing and (Re)storying men with broken wrists: using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un-African |
| title_sort | re storing and re storying men with broken wrists using intsomi as critical fabulation to refute the notion of queerness as un african |
| topic | Intsomi mystoriography critical fabulation Postmemory archive repertoire queer African (re)store (re)story |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/42633 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nyezifreddyjuniorsikhanyiso restoringandrestoryingmenwithbrokenwristsusingintsomiascriticalfabulationtorefutethenotionofqueernessasunafrican |