iasscs 2005 lacks african presence

By Zanele Muholi and Sabine Neidhardt

June 29, 2005: San Francisco - The usual throng of academics and researchers, plus a handful of activists coming from more than 32 countries, took part in the fifth bi-annual International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture, and Society (IASSCS) conference, held this year at the San Francisco State University, USA from June 21-24th, 2005.

The theme of the international gathering was Moral Panic and Sexual Rights, which is a particularly salient topic for discussion for those of us living out our sexual selves and lives in postcolonial Africa. Unfortunately, with only a few African scholars, activists, and artists present at the conference, the engagement for what this means for Africa was somewhat limited. In fact, given the political context of Post- 9/11 world, there were three African researchers of note whose contributions to this important transnational sexual dialogue were silenced, as the three were denied their entry visas by the US Embassy. Among these, the voice of respected sociologist Dr. Richmond Tiemoko of the African Resource Centre in Lagos, Nigeria was especially missed as he has been at the forefront of pioneering African regional conversations on sexuality among scholars and researchers.

Gilbert Herdt, director of the National Sexuality Resource Centre at San Francisco State University, opened the conference with the words that "moral panic is the scape-goating of persons, events, and groups that become defined as a threat to social values and interests. When issues are sexualized for political gain, sexual panics are the result. They are disruptive of the rule of law, denying people justice and basic human rights. For this reason, moral panics are fundamental black holes-the enemy of democracy."

Herdt's analysis of moral panic also gave weight to the legacies of Western colonialism and imperialism on our worlds today, stating that Western civilization's fundamental "dis-ease" over sexuality in the last 200 years has been openly reproduced and expressed in many colonial/postcolonial societies, as anxious responses to masturbation, prostitution, female sexuality, homosexuality, transgendered identities, virginity, sexual relations between races, gays in the military, and so on dominate our current mainstream discussions of sexuality.

Herdt's insights should give all of us living in Africa some food for thought about our own experiences as non-heterosexual men and women, whether we are in the closet or living openly with our desires. Herdt reminds all of us that transgendered people, lesbian sexuality, gay marriage and adoption campaigns, or peoples living with HIV/AIDS are essentially "the words, the names, the identities that surround a burden of collective fear, shame, and silence-seeking to scape-goat the problems of society through the victimization of sexual acts, sexual categories, sexual minorities, and sexual pleasures."

When we recall the daily occurrences of emotional and physical hate crimes experienced by transgendered, lesbian, and gay men and women in South African townships and rural areas, not to mention the moral and violent back-lash in the last decade against same-sex desires on the wider African continent-pitched so often by political elites as "unAfrican" in Zimbabwe, Uganda, Sierra Leon, Kenya, and Namibia-it is not difficult to understand some of our own struggles over sexual rights and sexual autonomy in terms of how moral panic has been constructed within our own societies .

From left: Davina Moonsamy, Niels Teunis and Gilbert Herdt

Despite the limited presence of African researchers at this year's conference, those voices that were present were powerful. Wits University Masters student Davina Moonsamy, for instance, challenged the sexual and gendered construction of Indian women living in South Africa in her talk by drawing on the experiences of same sex loving women in Jozi's Indian communities. Photographer Zanele Muholi gave visual voice to black African women's diverse sexualities and sexual experiences in an exhibition entitles called "One-Sided".

This years' IASSCS conference followed the 2003 conference that was held in Johannesburg, which many still remember with much fondness, not only for its superb organization and its intellectually stimulating content, but because of the kindness and hospitality offered by the South African hosts. Saskia Weiringa stepped down as the president of IASSCS, and C�ceres Carlos from Peru took over from that position which was formally announced at the end of the conference.

In the spirit of balancing the often unequal production of knowledge which favours knowledge produced in the North, IASSCS and its main funders (Ford Foundation and HIVOS), awarded 10 fellowships and 20 scholarships for researchers and scholars from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe. 30 opportunities were thus given to voices of the global South so that sexuality research and literacy can be more truly global in scope. The fellowships included two weeks attendance at the National Sexuality Research Centre's Summer Institute, and both fellowships and the scholarships covered also registration fees for the conference, lodging, and airfare.

For those of you who are not familiar with the association, IASSCS was founded in Amsterdam, the Netherlands by a group of international and Dutch colleagues in the mid 1990s led by Gilbert Herdt. Its aim was to create a space for sexuality research and advocacy independent of the medical paradigm and its medicalization of sexuality and gender that was then so dominant in sexuality research and intellectual thinking. IASSCS has since staged 4 conferences: in Amsterdam; Manchester, England; Melbourne, Australia; and Johannesburg, South Africa. This year's IASSCS conference was the first to be held in the US.

Ultimately this was more than just conference tourism; instead it was a space for networking amongst academics, and a positive environment to explore human sexuality and its interface with cultures.