A new law regulating homosexual relations was in the year of 2009 introduced in the parliament of Uganda, resulting in wide condemnation from the west. The bill proposed harsh penalties for homosexual behavior and gay advocacy, including, but not limited to, the death penalty and life imprisonment. Despite the damning critique from certain western countries the law garnered strong support among Ugandan nationals. To understand this discrepansy my thesis sets out to comprehend the reasoning behind the bill’s national popularity. Is it possible to make sense of a law that from a liberal western perspective could be considered nonsensical? To develop an understanding of the motivations behind the bill, this paper aims to identify and analyze frequently used arguments in support of the ”anti-gay law”. This analysis is primarily achieved through the implementation of a postcolonial perspective containing terminology inspired by Frantz Fanon, and Kristen Cheneys discussions regarding ”postcolonial amnesia”. More general aspects associated with postcolonial theory are also included and a ”liberal western perspective” is additionally implemented to empahasize the contribution of the postcolonial perspective. The study identified four different types of arguments that were commonly used in support of the bill. The first stated that homosexuality is a western phenomenon contrary to African values, the second claimed that homosexuality is a threat to the family, the third that it’s a sin in conflict with religious values, and it was lastly argued that homosexuality doesn’t qualify as one of the human rights. All of the aforementioned arguments were shown to be more comprehensible through the implementation of a postcolonial perspective. The branding of homosexuality as western and ”un-African” was for example demonstrated as explainable when viewed as a reaction to western hegemony and historical colonial exploitation, as well as a drive to create and uphold an independent national identity. A similar pattern is also identified in connection with the other arguments, and is primarily established through the reasonings of Frantz Fanon. Kristen Cheneys use of ”postcolonial amnesia” is also implemented to make sense of glaring paradoxes in the arguments supporting the law.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-412236 |
| Date | January 2020 |
| Creators | Samuel, Johansson |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Teologiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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