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，探索性和南非黑人酷儿创造性艺术家的工作和生活中的神圣。通过使用神圣的概念，该项目允许在制度化的宗教和信仰的背景下研究宗教/灵性，并探索如何在艺术和日常实践中体现和表现神圣。这将通过对开普敦12名黑人酷儿表演艺术家的生活经历的民族志探索来完成。该项目特别感兴趣的是探索表演艺术的潜力，以(重新)构建南非的同性恋叙事。在一个国家背景下，这一点意义重大，因为宗教既用来支撑反同性恋的态度和话语，也激发了对彩虹同性恋乌托邦的梦想，并激励了对此的激进主义。长期以来，表演艺术在南非黑人抵抗历史上一直处于核心地位，在当前的同性恋抵抗运动中仍然具有同样重要的意义。因此，该项目还旨在将黑人作为一个重要的交叉点来推论，它塑造了性与神圣是如何谈判的，并分析了表演艺术是如何作为酷儿黑人意识的场所发挥作用的。《性与神圣》具有极大的潜力，可以(重新)想象这个国家的政治和社会秩序以及奇怪的未来。这是一项高度创新和广泛的研究，有助于形成越来越多的文献，细微地区分后殖民时代非洲同性恋意味着什么的霸权观念。该项目将经验丰富的研究人员(ER)的深入知识与导师在非洲宗教和酷儿研究方面的理论和方法专业知识以及利兹大学的合作网络相结合，以区分ER和主持人作为宗教和同性恋性变革性学术工作中创新的、跨部门的领导者。