The rupture in the Rainbow: an exploration of Joburg Pride’s fragmentation, 1990 to 2013

In 2012 Joburg Pride was disrupted by the One in Nine Campaign who asked for a moment of silence to honour the lives of victims of hate crimes1 and violence. This interruption of the parade was met with violence from Joburg Pride organisers, marshals and participants, who explicitly told the campaign’s activists that they “had no right to be at the parade.” The activists were predominantly black lesbians and gender non-conforming people. This response suggested that there was no place within Joburg Pride for honouring and mourning the lives of LGBTIAQ people of colour that had been lost to hate crimes. In addition to the call for one minute of silence, the One in Nine Campaign argued that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised as a result of its increased commercialisation. This study is motivated by a need to understand this rupture that occurred in 2012, and to situate it within the history of the LGBTIAQ movement in South Africa. In particular, it investigates the argument made by the One in Nine Campaign that Joburg Pride had become depoliticised and commercialised. The tensions that were facilitated by the 2012 clash and the subsequent formation of alternative Pride events in 2013 are interesting in light of current conversations circulating in broader South African discourse around what it means to be a South African citizen. The study applies a poststructuralist, anti-racist queer feminist lens informed by queer theory, critical theory, critical race theory, and whiteness studies to the historical and current fractures within Joburg Pride. The study analyses Exit newspaper articles from 1990 to 2013, alongside interviews with key stakeholders involved in the 2012 clash. The analysis, informed by both thematic and discursive approaches, interrogates the following themes: depoliticisation, commercialisation, “community”, assimilation, whiteness, racism, rainbowism and rainbow-washing. In this thesis I argue that the commercial interests and apolitical stance of predominantly white Joburg Pride organisers came to exclude LGBTIAQ people of colour’s experiences, at a time when political organising around hate crimes was most necessary. The analysis further highlights a politics of assimilation rooted in rights-based discourse informed by the Rainbow Nation rhetoric of post-apartheid South Africa. Further, this study problematises the notion of “community”, and discusses its strategic use in assimilationist politics within the LGBTIAQ “community”. This study shows that the rupture in the rainbow that occurred at Joburg Pride 2012 was constituted by multiple ruptures that exist in South African society. The issues explored in this thesis are therefore not only useful for constructing more inclusive spaces for LGBTIAQ people, but also for the nation building project of South Africa

The Digital Age: A Feminist Future for the Queer African Woman

How can digital spaces make possible a feminist future for the queer African woman? Writing as the editors of a South African queer online space, HOLAA!, this article aims to draw attention to and discuss queer digital communities and how they afford the queer African woman the space to express her lived experiences. The article further examines how digital spaces create these possibilities for public and political expression. Lastly, the authors present what they consider to be a feminist future for the queer African woman, and that it is within this future that the rights of queer women can be protected nationally and internationally as the conversations that fight erasure, exclusion and the denial of rights occur

Queer In AI: A Case Study in Community-Led Participatory AI

We present Queer in AI as a case study for community-led participatory design in AI. We examine how participatory design and intersectional tenets started and shaped this community's programs over the years. We discuss different challenges that emerged in the process, look at ways this organization has fallen short of operationalizing participatory and intersectional principles, and then assess the organization's impact. Queer in AI provides important lessons and insights for practitioners and theorists of participatory methods broadly through its rejection of hierarchy in favor of decentralization, success at building aid and programs by and for the queer community, and effort to change actors and institutions outside of the queer community. Finally, we theorize how communities like Queer in AI contribute to the participatory design in AI more broadly by fostering cultures of participation in AI, welcoming and empowering marginalized participants, critiquing poor or exploitative participatory practices, and bringing participation to institutions outside of individual research projects. Queer in AI's work serves as a case study of grassroots activism and participatory methods within AI, demonstrating the potential of community-led participatory methods and intersectional praxis, while also providing challenges, case studies, and nuanced insights to researchers developing and using participatory methods.Comment: To appear at FAccT 202

Rethinking publics and participation in a digital era: a case study of HOLAA! and African queer women’s digital interactions

Feminist thinking and organising is being altered through digital spaces, as these spaces increasingly allow for greater participation of women andmarginalised identities in the public sphere. The digital environmentmakes it possible for voices that may not have been present in the public sphere prior to the existence of social networking sites to be heard and viewed publicly (Goby, 2003). It also allows for individuals to be exposed to viewpoints that are not their own and to be held accountable for the values they espouse, aswell as to have these challenged publicly. This ultimately allows for a richer and more complex public sphere, and for opportunities to construct counter-publics and counterdiscourses (McLean, 2013, 2014; Nip, 2004). McLean and Mugo (2015) hold that the richness and complexity of this public sphere can be considered to be more reflective of lived realities and nuanced relationships of power than earlier conceptions of the public sphere. This article will speak specifically to the experiences of the queer African woman, and here ‘participation’ is inclusive of the sharing of lived experiences, decision making, organising and advocacy, public dialogue, and policy changes. Writing as a previous editor and curator of the Pan-African queer online space HOLAA!, and taking this space as a point of departure, the possibilities presented by digital spaces for feminist thinking and organising are explored. The possibility for adding to global narratives is considered, and how digital communities impact on and alter feminist participation, resulting in the formation of rich feminist publics and counter-publics is discussed

Integration of mHealth Information and Communication Technologies Into the Clinical Settings of Hospitals in Sub-Saharan Africa: Qualitative Study

BackgroundThere is a rapid uptake of mobile-enabled technologies in lower- and upper-middle–income countries because of its portability, ability to reduce mobility, and facilitation of communication. However, there is limited empirical evidence on the usefulness of mobile health (mHealth) information and communication technologies (ICTs) to address constraints associated with the work activities of health care professionals at points of care in hospital settings. ObjectiveThis study aims to explore opportunities for integrating mHealth ICTs into the work activities of health care professionals at points of care in clinical settings of hospitals in Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, the research question is, “How can mHealth ICTs be integrated into the work activities of health care professionals at points of care in hospital settings?” MethodsA qualitative approach was adopted to understand the work activities and points at which mHealth ICTs could be integrated to support health care professionals. The techniques of inquiry were semistructured interviews and co-design activities. These techniques were used to ensure the participation of frontline end users and determine how mHealth ICTs could be integrated into the point of care in hospital settings. Purposive and snowball sampling techniques were used to select tertiary hospitals and participants for this study from South Africa and Nigeria. A total of 19 participants, including physicians, nurses, and hospital managers, were engaged in the study. Ethical clearance was granted by the University research committee and the respective hospitals. The data collected were sorted and interpreted using thematic analysis and Activity Analysis and Development model. ResultsThe findings show that mHealth ICTs are suitable at points where health care professionals consult with patients in the hospital clinics, remote communication is needed, and management of referrals and report writing are required. It was inferred that mHealth ICTs could be negatively disruptive, and some participants perceived the use of mobile devices while engaging with patients as unprofessional. These findings were informed by the outcomes of the interplay between human attributes and technology capabilities during the transformation of the motives of work activity into the intended goal, which is enhanced service delivery. ConclusionsThe opportunities to integrate mHealth ICTs into clinical settings depend on the inefficiencies of interaction moments experienced by health care professionals at points of care during patient consultation, remote communication, referrals, and report writing. Thus, the timeliness of mHealth ICTs to address constraints experienced by health care professionals during work activities should take into consideration the type of work activity and the contextual factors that may result in contradictions in relation to technology features. This study contributes toward the design of mHealth ICTs by industry vendors and its usability evaluation for the work activity outcomes of health care professionals