This article traces the history of homosexual and transgender behavior in Senegal from colonial times to the contemporary period in order to demonstrate the flimsiness of the claims, made by many political and religious leaders and scholars, that homosexuality is "un-African." Such claims, which appear as reactions to neocolonialism and Western intervention in African affairs, usually are homophobic discourses that invoke patriotism, cultural difference, and morality in order to justify the subjugation of homosexual and gender nonconforming individuals ( goor-jiggens ) living in Senegal. In an attempt to understand the roots of Senegalese homophobia, the article analyzes several depictions of homosexuals and transgender people in contemporary Senegal and traces them to similar representations in European writings of the colonial period. As this approach reveals, homosexuals and transgender people in Senegal, from colonial times to the present, have been constructed as scapegoats, first of the French mission civilisatrice (civilizing mission) and then of Senegalese political and Islamic backlashes. Although they have always cohabited with the rest of the society, homosexuals and transgender people in Senegal have been treated largely as strangers in their own land. By analyzing the discourses of 110 African Studies Review both French colonials and Senegalese, one finds a persistent binary opposing the West and Africa and denigrating sexual and gender variances and subcultures in Senegal as pathological European imports.Résumé: Cet article retrace l'évolution historique des comportements homosexuels et transsexuels au Sénégal depuis les temps coloniaux jusqu'à aujourd'hui dans le but de démontrer la faiblesse des revendications faites par de nombreux leaders et intellectuels que "l'homosexualité n'est pas africaine." De telles déclarations, apparemment des réactions contre le néocolonialisme et l'intervention des pays occidentaux dans les affaires africaines, sont pour la plupart des discours homophobes qui font appel au patriotisme, aux différences culturelles, et à des valeurs morales bien-pensantes pour justifier l'assujettissement des homosexuels et ceux ne se conformant pas aux normes sexuelles actuelles ( goor-jiggens ) au Sénégal. Dans un effort de comprendre les racines de l'homophobie présente au Sénégal, cet article analyse plusieurs représentations d'homosexuels et de transsexuels dans le Sénégal d'aujourd'hui et les relie à des représentations similaires dans la littérature européenne pendant l'époque coloniale. Cette approche montre que les homosexuels et transsexuels au Sénégal ont été, depuis les temps coloniaux, construits comme des boucs émissaires, tout d'abord de la "mission civilisatrice" française et ensuite des protestations contre les islamistes et le gouvernement sénégalais. Bien qu'ils aient toujours cohabité avec le reste de la société, les homosexuels et transsexuels ont été traités largement comme des étrangers dans leur propre pays. En analysant les discours des colons français et des S...

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Drawing from Achille Mbembe’s theorization of Afropolitanism as an opportunity for modern Africans “to experience several worlds” and develop flux, hybrid, and constantly mobile identities (“Afropolitanism” 29), this essay attempts to make an intervention into the ways in which this phenomenon appeared in colonial Senegalese culture. A neglected site of Afropolitanism was the colonial metropolis of Dakar which reflected subversive homosexual or transgender identities during the 1940s and 50s. Focusing on key writings such as Armand Corre’s book, L’ethnographie criminelle d’après les observations et les statistiques judiciaires recueillies dans les colonies françaises [criminal ethnography based on judiciary observations and statistics gathered from French colonies] (1894) and Michael Davidson’s travelogue, “Dakar” (1970), this essay wants to uncover a part of the silenced and neglected history of sexual and gender variances in colonial Senegalese culture. In these texts, one finds salient examples of Afropolitanism which were deployed as tools of resistance against homophobia and transphobia and as means of affirming erotic, sensual, and transgressive identities. In the end, colonial Senegalese culture transcended gender and sexual binaries in order to provide space for recognizing and examining Afropolitan sensibilities that have thus far been neglected in African studies scholarship.

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