Popular homophobia in Cameroon

• Published in: Cahiers d'études africaines 2011-01, Vol.204 (204), p.921-944
• Main Author: Lado, Ludovic
• Format: Article
• Language: fre
• Subjects: Africa; Cameroon; Collective Representation; Economic Elites; Elites; Ethics; Globalization; Homophobia; Homosexuality; Industry; Modernity; Taboo; Taboos; Values
• ISSN: 0008-0055
• DOI: 10.4000/etudesafricaines.16895

Popular Homophobia in Cameroon. -- There are very few studies on African homosexuality, and fewer still on African homophobia. On these topics the cultural taboo seems to veil a scientific taboo. The recent irruption of the topic of homosexuality in public and popular debates in some African countries, including Cameroon, occurred through trivial news, largely relayed by local medias, which implicated and criminalized the influent section of the political and economic elite. This essay shows that through this saga, the public opinion, by recycling a collective representation which associates homosexuality with esoteric practices posits itself as the guardian and defender of traditional moral values. The threat is seen as coming from Western modernity at the service of which is the corrupt postcolonial state and its criminalized and disavowed elite. Homophobia is here instrumentalized not mainly by power holders for political ends, as it is often the case, but rather by the populace to stigmatize the moral and civic decadence of the ruling elite. Furthermore, this cultural resistance occurs in a context in which cultural industries are at the root of the globalization, not only of debates so far considered taboos in Africa, but also of the clash between local resistances and pressures from international lobbies. Adapted from the source document.