Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at how HOLAAfrica! a pan-Africanist Queer Womanist Collective, is using Web 2.0 technologies to challenge oppressive gender and sexuality norms by sharing stories that reflect the diversity and heterogeneity of queer African experiences.

Paper long abstract:

Amina Mama argues that once the diversity and heterogeneity of African history, society and culture is recognized theoretically, researchers have the ability to dispel myths about "essential" African culture. This paper would like to contribute to this project by focusing on the ways in which young queer African women are making use of Web 2.0 technologies to engage in issues related to gender and sexuality to challenge myths and negative perceptions about the lives of sexual minorities in African contexts. The example of one organization HOLAAfrica!, which describes itself as a Pan-Africanist Queer Womanist Collective, is used to show that that even though young African women are often faced with severe homophobic and heterosexist realities, a growing number of women are embracing social networking tools to challenge oppressive gender and sexuality norms and to build community. HOLAAfrica! provides an online platform for African women to share their stories and thus co-create knowledge that reflects diversity and the heterogeneity of queer African experiences. Writing and talking about experiences that counter oppressive norms enough can begin to shape new kinds of norms. The space that is created by using multiple Web 2.0 technologies allow for communicative identity constructions that are assisting women to challenge understandings in their contexts that see sexual identity as something that is fixed, natural, exclusively heterosexual, and not to be disturbed.