Queer necropolitics of forced migration: Cyclical violence in the African context

Abstract

This article seeks to theorize queer necropolitics—the ability for states to decide who lives and who dies—within the context of forced displacement. In doing so, I link the literature on African sexualities, necropolitics, and queer migration and ask the following questions: How do African states engage in necropolitics that fuel forced displacement for queer people? And, how do forcibly displaced queer migrants navigate and survive in heteronormative spaces within the wider context of racialization in Cape Town? I argue that forcibly displaced queer migrants face ongoing forms of displacement based on various dimensions of ‘non-belonging’ from country-of-origin to relocation.