Sex and the Sacred: Queering Black Performing Arts in Cape Town, South Africa

性与神圣：南非开普敦的酷儿黑人表演艺术

• 批准号: EP/X023486/1
• 负责人: Megan Robertson
• 金额: $ 26万
• 依托单位: University of Leeds
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FX023486%2F1
• 关键词: Sex; Sacred; Queering; Black; Performing

"Sex and the Sacred" is an interdisciplinary project that explores sexuality and the sacred in the work and lives of Black queer creative artists in South Africa. By using the concept of the sacred this project allows for religion/spirituality to be studied outside of the context of institutionalized religion and belief and to explore how the sacred becomes embodied and is performed in art as well as everyday practices. This will be done through an ethnographic exploration of the lived experiences of twelve Black queer performing artists in Cape Town. The project is particularly interested in exploring the potential of the performing arts for (re)constructing the narrative of queerness in South Africa. This is significant in a national context where religion is used to both, prop up anti-queer attitudes and discourses, but also inspire dreams for a rainbow queer utopia and motivates activism towards this. The performing arts have long been central in South African histories of Black resistance and remains equally significant in current queer resistance movements. The project thus also aims to theorise Blackness as an important intersection that shapes how sexuality and the sacred is negotiated and to analyse how the performing arts functions as a site for a queer Black consciousness. "Sex and the Sacred" holds great potential for (re)imagining political and social orders and queer futurity in the country. It is a highly innovative and extensive study, contributing to a growing body of literature that nuances hegemonic ideas of what it means to be queer in postcolonial Africa. This project pairs the in-depth knowledge of the Experienced Researcher (ER) with the theoretical and methodological expertise in religious and queer African studies of the supervisor, as well as the collaboration networks of the University of Leeds, to distinguish the ER and the host as innovative, intersectional leaders in transformative academic work on religion and queer sexuality.

“性与神圣”是一个跨学科的项目，探讨了南非黑人酷儿创意艺术家的工作和生活中的性爱和神圣的项目。通过使用神圣的概念，该项目可以在制度化的宗教和信仰背景之外研究宗教/灵性，并探索神圣的体现，并在艺术和日常实践中进行。这将通过民族志探索开普敦的十二个黑人酷儿表演艺术家的生活经历来完成。该项目特别有兴趣探索（重新）构建南非酷儿叙事的表演艺术的潜力。在国家环境中，这很重要，宗教既习惯了，又能提高反态态度和话语，同时也激发了对彩虹酷儿乌托邦的梦想，并激发了激进主义的行动主义。长期以来，在南非的黑人抵抗病史中，表演艺术一直是中国的中心，并且在当前的酷儿抵抗运动中仍然同样重要。因此，该项目还旨在将理论化作为一个重要的交叉点，以塑造性和神圣谈判的方式，并分析表演艺术如何作为酷黑色意识的站点。 “性与神圣”具有（重新）想象该国的政治和社会秩序以及酷儿未来的巨大潜力。这是一项高度创新且广泛的研究，促进了越来越多的文学体系，它对在后殖民非洲的酷儿意味着什么的胜利性思想。该项目将经验丰富的研究人员（ER）的深入知识与主管的宗教和酷儿研究中的理论和方法学专业知识以及利兹大学的合作网络以及欧洲急诊室的合作网络以及主持人的创新性，在宗教和Queer性的转型学业方面的创新，相互分裂的领导者。