EXCEPT seminar: Sacred Sex, Sacred Text: Queering Religious Sexual Scripts in Transforming African Society

EXCEPT (Exeter Centre for Ethics and Practical Theology) is delighted to host Prof Sarojini Nadar of the University of the Western Cape. Research on sexuality in Africa shows the incontrovertible role of the sacred text of Christianity (the Bible) in condemning forms of sexual expression and identity when they do not conform to the hetero-norm. The Bible thus defines and prescribes what “sacred sex” is. Moreover, scholars explain that the growing presence of fundamentalist religion in Africa, coupled with the myth that “homosexuality is un-African”, serves to entrench homo/transphobic beliefs, even within transforming societies like South Africa. At the same time, a growing body of literature, largely by scholars who draw on masculinity studies and queer theory, responds to the upsurge of homophobia around the globe and in Africa. Elaborating on the “sexual scripting” approach, this paper examines how heteronormative sexuality produces interpretations of Judges 19 that encourage violen