Beyond the ‘internalist’ vs. ‘externalist’ debate: the local–global identities of African homosexuals in two films, Woubi Che´ri and Dakan

Abstract

The 1997 movie Dakan, considered to be the first feature film on homosexuality from sub-Saharan Africa, explores the tensions experienced by two young homosexual Guinean men because of their conflicting social, cultural and sexual identities. The 1998 documentary Woubi Che´eri focuses on a community of homosexuals, transvestites and woubis (men choosing to play the role of ‘wife’ in their relationships with other men) in Abidjan, Coˆte d'Ivoire. This paper looks at how the protagonists' struggles and quest for identity are determined by both local and global dynamics. I argue that their homosexual experiences need to be studied in the light of both the history of same-sex practices in sub-Saharan African societies, and of the Westernized aspects of these societies. The protagonists' marginality can be seen as a ‘global’ consequence of the discrimination experienced by gay people all over the world, while also being the result of the specific social, cultural and economic structures governing their mostly patriarchal and family-oriented communities. However, their quest for identity can also be looked at as a metaphor for contemporary African societies' need to redefine their own traditions and to resist the often dehumanizing impact of Western globalization.