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Paper short abstract:

African popular arts often portray queerness as impossible in rural spaces. By framing the city as violent and homophobic, the Kenyan film, I am Samuel, reimagines the intersection of sexuality, space and belonging. It offers an alternate futurity of understanding (queer) African sexualities.

Paper long abstract:

Queer sexualities are often imagined in African literary texts and films as being possibly only within urban spaces. Rural spaces are deemed too conservative and traditionalist and thus incompatible with the expression and performance of queerness. The Kenyan film I am Samuel (2020) directed by Peter Murimi offers a different imagining of queer sexuality. Not only does the film transgress and suspend linear temporality, but it also challenges the idea that queer embodiment and performance is not impossible in rural areas. In fact, I am Samuel shows how the urban space is dangerous for individuals identifying as queer. The city is a space of lurking violence and considerable unbelonging. The rural area in which the parents of Samuel, the protagonist, live, which is supposed to embody very traditional and conservative cultural values and practices ultimately turns out to be the space in which the protagonist is freest to be queer. The film challenges the idea that queer bodies can only belong to, or find freedom in, urban spaces. In so doing, the film registers and imagines a different futurity for understanding queer sexualities in Africa. The film gestures towards the possibility for change and for queer bodies to forge a place for themselves, even in contexts that are deemed traditionalist and conservative.