By Sylvia Tamale
Tommy Boys, Lesbian Men and Ancestral Wives: Female Same-Sex Practices in Africa. Edited by Ruth Morgan and Saskia Wieringa. Johannesburg: Jacana, 2005
Tommy Boys, Lesbian Men & Ancestral Wives confronts the millions of Africans that have lived in denial of the existence of lesbianism on the continent with a reality shock. Its contents sit very uncomfortably within a culture that treats same-sex relationships as taboo, alien, unnatural transgressions. Not only do African societies treat any form of homoeroticism (same-sex love and desire) with disgust, considering it a grave pathological sin, but it is also listed as a criminal offence in most countries. Absurd as it may sound, if the law finds two consenting adults of the same sex making love, it would subject them to imprisonment (in countries like Uganda, for life).
Tommy Boys demonstrates the hopelessness in enforcing a “victimless crime”. The rich narratives of various lesbians from six African countries provide a rare peek into the complex personal lives of lesbian individuals.Participants were interviewed from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. Through their voices, the reader learns a great deal about the lives of African lesbians — from the way some of them play out the dominant gender roles, including violence, to the delicate ways that they make love. The narratives include captivating stories of “lesbian men” who impregnated their lovers, female sangomas (medicine people) that secretly make love to their “ancestral wives”, and exploratory “mummy-baby” boarding school relationships. Each of the ten chapters opens with a photograph from the brilliant collection of South African lesbian rights activist, Zanele Muholi, which adds to the appeal of the book.
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The most problematic issue with Tommy Boys lies with its methodological and conceptual approach. Readers that expect “deep” sociological analysis and conceptual insights woven into the narrative descriptions will be bitterly disappointed. The fact that the book was conceptualized and primarily driven by two white women who also co-authored each of the chapters written by the black researchers, is not lost on any critical reader. For example, in the introductory chapter of the book, we are informed that, “The project which forms the basis of this book was conceptualized… around Ruth’s kitchen table when Saskia was spending a few days in Johannesburg en route to Namibia… The problem was that we could not identify sufficient African woman researchers working on female same-sex practices” (Morgan and Wieringa, 2005: 11). We are further informed that once the African researchers had been identified, both Wieringa and Morgan proceeded to conduct a training workshop for them in methodological, theoretical and analytical issues related to life history research on same-sex relations. The research itself was conducted in three quick months, in time for the 2003 International Association for the Study of Sexuality, Culture and Society (IASSCS) confererence. The findings were subsequently disseminated in a conference session on African lesbianism organized by Wieringa and Morgan.